


Old Grudges Die Hard

by BlueLuma



Category: Among Us (Video Game)
Genre: Alien Biology, Alien Impostor(s) (Among Us), Alien Sex, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Character Death, Flirty Bastard, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Gay Panic, Heavy Angst, Hurt/Comfort, Imposter, Impostor Black (Among Us), M/M, Moral Ambiguity, Murder Mystery, Panic Attacks, Torture, blind trust
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-21
Updated: 2021-01-21
Packaged: 2021-03-13 01:01:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 13
Words: 26,099
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28894800
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BlueLuma/pseuds/BlueLuma
Summary: 2 Imposters, 8 Crewmates. A rhythm, the Crewmates would weed out the two traitors and eject them into the starry darkness. A rhythm, White depended on this rhythm. Depended on this rhythm to stay sane, to keep going on these expeditions, keep ignoring the true danger he was in. It didn't help he had a deep rooted hatred for these alien beings, unwavering and boiling deep in his memory.2 allies, 8 enemies. A rhythm, the Imposters would work together to take out their eight victims and stop the humans from finding their home planet. A rhythm, Black depended on this rhythm. Depended on this rhythm to justify the lives he took, to earn the human's trust, stop himself from giving himself away. It definitely didn't help he had a fascination for the bodies of his victims, and would do anything to examine them further.
Relationships: Black/White (Among Us)
Comments: 36
Kudos: 18





	1. Chapter 1

Cyan hummed, poking around in the depths of electrical, wires fizzing and sparking around him as he worked to fix the lights. Little Cyan sat by his feet, picking at the wires taped down to the floor, looking up occasionally at his father in impatience. 

"A few more minutes, don't worry. If the Imposter tries to come in, you wait for me to distract them then you run, got it?" Cyan patted his head, turning back to his work in the dark. Little Cyan huffed in annoyance, fed up with the long journey through the cosmos. He wanted to go home. 

"Ok..." He curled his knees to his chest, resting his cheek against the cold glass of his visor. The room fell eerily quiet again, as if the air itself was preparing for a tragedy. The atmosphere wasn't tense per say, but Little Cyan couldn't shake the feeling of dread that began to stir in his gut, making him feel heavy and afraid. 

"Don't you worry, I won't let anything bad happen to you. I promise." Cyan smiled down at him through the visor, sensing his son's discomfort.

"O-ok." Little Cyan shuffled closer to his father, eyeing the room cautiously. He'd been here many times before, Cyan was the head engineer on the trip and had tried to teach Little Cyan to fix the wires with him as a form of father son bonding, only to find that his son didn't have the same care for the work as he did. 

"S'okay, we'll get out of here alive. And hey, at least you'll have a pretty interesting story." Cyan chuckled, his focus solely on the multicolored mess of wires.

"This isn't funny dad. What if we actually die?" Little Cyan was nearly crying, clutching to his father's legs like if he let go he'd be dragged into the vents with the monstrous Imposters.

"We won't. We'll get back home to your mother and sister." Cyan's confidence was almost cocky, his tone doing nothing to reassure his son. They had no reason to believe they would be, the Imposters seemed to be killing at random, and Cyan's only friends were already dead. He'd spent most of his focus on Little Cyan, leaving him little time to be anything more than acquaintances with the fellow 'crewmates'. 

Little Cyan hadn't bothered to figure out how time worked in space since his father would always tell him when to do things, so he was unsure how much time had passed when there was a creaking noise from outside of electrical. Of course he'd grown accustomed to the chatter of adults that buzzed around him in a cloud of disinteresting topics, but something about this creak seemed off. If someone was walking by, they would have went passed the doorway by now... right? 

"Dad. Dad I think someone's waiting by the doorway." His voice was barely above a whisper, but as soon as he'd said it Cyan whipped around. No matter how confident he had to seem in front of his kid, there was still a homicidal alien on the loose. Ignoring the warning wouldn't just be idiotic, but possibly fatal. 

"Stay here ok? I'll check it out..." Cyan patted his son's head, brandishing his wire cutters like a weapon, as if it could compare to the Imposter's methods of attack. 

Cyan neared the doorway, each heavy step echoing throughout the eerily quiet ship. The sound of scraping metal broke Little Cyan from his fear stricken trance of watching his father, his eyes darting to the vent next to him. It had shifted. 

"DAD! DAD THERES SOMETHING IN THE VENT-" his panicked screaming was cut short by the vent cover being thrown out of the ground, Purple's half morphed body emerging from the narrow passage, sharp tongue lashing like a cat's tail as her- no, its- abdominal mouth let out a low growl, teeth bared and dripping in bodily fluids. Cyan ran back to the trembling child, barreling into the Imposter. These creatures would not harm his son, even if it cost him his life. 

"Go Gavin! Run!" Little Cyan nodded, swallowing hard and sprinting through electrical as his fight or flight reflexes kicked in, telling him to run as fast as he could away from this cave of wires. A looming figure blocked his path out of it, forcing Gavin to a halt. His eyes darted around looking for some form of escape, but his efforts turned up fruitless, leaving him nothing to do but stare in abject horror at the Imposter in front of him. He opened his mouth to try and scream for someone, but a claw had pressed itself to his mouth, Blue staring down at him intimidatingly. 

"Hush child, stay quiet and you may be spared." She hissed, digging her knife like claws into his face, just enough to hurt but not draw blood. He nodded frantically, tears pricking up in his eyes as he heard the scuffling of his father fighting with the other Imposter. 

"Stop struggling!" Purple growled, picking up Cyan like a rag doll and tossing him into the middle of the room, her patience running thin. 

"Purple dear, shall we kill the child in front of the human or kill the adult first?" Blue's words were malicious, her tone dripping in false cheerfulness, like this was a question of what they were going to eat for dinner and dessert. Well, in a way that was exactly what they were doing. 

"No! You can kill me, just let Gavin live... please, are you really going to go as low as to kill a child?" Cyan pleaded with the Imposters, trying to give his son reassuring glances, although they did nothing to diminish Little Cyan's fear. 

"I say we kill them both but if the human is so adamant on the child surviving, why not give the man what he wants?" Purple replied in the same tone, a bit more aggression stirring in her words, a certain hunger that scared Gavin more than anything else in the world. 

"Magnificent plan." Blue grinned sadistically, flexing her claws as she advanced on Cyan. Gavin backed up to the wall, gazing wide eyed at the monsters in front of him as his father stood calmly between them. 

"Aww not even gonna fight back anymore? Shame, I like it when my prey struggle!" Purple laughed, a demonic sound that reverberated around the room, much more a growl than a laugh as her sharp abdominal tongue shot out, extending in length to a much greater size and piercing Cyan's flesh, his body struggling for a not even a second before going limp, hanging off of her tongue like a child lifting a doll into the air. 

"No DAD!" Gavin screamed, tears streaming freely down his face as he scrambled to try and get to his father's lifeless body, but Blue blocked his path.

"What did I say, hush, or you'll end up like your paternal human!" She was definitely the gentler of the two Imposters, but even she had no care for human race or their children. Little Cyan whimpered and huddled back to the wall, sobbing into his helmet as Purple advanced on him hungrily. "No. We will let him live. Maybe this child will show the human race to fear us, and he will act as a sign of our power." Blue defended him, resting a claw on his head. 

"Fine. Fine, we'll let him live. But if he goes running to the other humans then we're dead." Purple spat, glaring at Little Cyan with such a hatred that he almost wished she would kill him so he wouldn't have to be afraid anymore. 

"Then we will have died for our cause." Blue smiled, walking swiftly to the vents, molding her body to fit the compact metal tube as she disappeared. Purple pointed her sharp tongue at him threateningly before joining her partner in the vents, leaving Gavin alone with the limp corpse of his father. 

"Y-you said you'd protect me.... I d-didn't mean it like this!" He yelled to no one in particular, pressing his helmet to Cyan's chest, crying into his visor as a puddle of blood grew around him. Everything was dark. The lights seemed dimmer than usual. The fizzing and clinking of electrical didn't seem quite as loud without his father's voice. But the ship kept going. The ship kept going, everyone on the ship just kept going. But it shouldn't have, it shouldn't have to Gavin, it should've all stopped as soon as Cyan took his last breath, he should've woken up like this was all just a bad dream that he had gotten stuck in, Gavin would wake up to his mother making breakfast and his father planning his next voyage. But nothing ever happened. 

Time kept going.

Nothing had stopped.

Gavin hadn't woken up. 

The world wasn't ending just because his dad died. He curled up next to the corpse, crying himself into an unwilling sleep.

—————————————————————————————

Gavin blinked awake in confusion. At first, he was ecstatic! Maybe it all had been just a dream. Then he looked around. Cots lined a wall, desaturated blue curtains separating them and the medical equipment sitting next to them. A computer sat in the corner. And there was the dreaded full body scanner that he'd only ever seen on the ship, it's tech glinting in the light as if to tease him, to remind him of the nightmare that had become his life.

"Ah! Little Cyan!" A cheery voice cut through his panic. Pink was entering the room, all too happy for what had just occurred. "So we understand you may be a little shaken after what happened, but I-"

"A little shaken? THEY KILLED MY DAD!" He didn't mean to lash out at Pink. He really didn't, the words just came tumbling out of his mouth before he could stop them. Her smile dropped a bit, but her overall demeanor didn't change. 

"Yes, and I am terribly sorry for that," her face contorted to an expression of pity, causing Gavin to clench his fists under the thin hospital sheet to stop himself from punching the look right off her face. "But do you think you could identify the Imposter or Imposters that attacked you?" 

"Purple and Blue." Gavin replied in an instant, the distorted mix between human and alien forever burned into his mind. Pink raised an eyebrow.

"Are you sure?" Gavin could feel his blood boiling. Who did this woman think she is? She asked if he remembered who'd done it, and he'd given an answer, why was she questioning his judgement now? "We don't want to accidentally throw out the wrong people. Are you absolutely sure?" And the way she spoke to him like he was a toddler, her words slow and laced with false concern. He wanted to throw her into space, although there would be no reason for that. It would merely be allowing those monsters more of a chance to kill. 

"Ah, Gavin. Good to see you awake." Relief washed over Gavin like a wave. Captain Red was standing in the doorway, giving Pink a very pointed look, that she returned just as sharply back. "I hope you can forgive Pink, everyone is very high strung at the moment. Do you mind telling me who you saw when Cyan was taken?" Red was much gentler than  
Pink, but with a certain authority and formality that got straight to the point of what was needed. 

"Purple and Blue." Gavin repeated, and Pink opened her mouth to once more object, only to be stopped by a jerk of the captain's hand. 

"And you are absolutely certain? I'm not questioning your judgement, I would just like to be perfectly clear with this." The child nodded, and Red motioned for Pink to follow him out of the room. "Then we shall discuss with the rest of the crew." 

————————————————————————————————

Purple and Blue had been ejected the next day. In a surprising turn of events, Blue went willingly, even going as far as expressing her disdain for killing the humans on the trip and helping the humans haul her much more violent partner into the airlock and out into the freezing vacuum of space. She'd turned one last time to the crew and stared them dead in the eyes before giving her final message:

"I know none of you trust me, and for good reason. But I would like to preface one fact. We only kill because humans get too close to our home planet. I advise you don't send ships this way unless you'd like to meet a gruesome fate." And with that the monochromatic alien closed herself into the airlock and was ejected into the darkness. No one spoke that day.

It took only two weeks to return to Earth. The landing was a blur, all Gavin could remember was rushing to his mother and sobbing into her shoulder, telling her that her husband was gone. No one bothered him, Red made sure the press leaved his family alone. Gavin was mentioned on TV, the revelation of Imposters hiding among the crews was covered extensively in all forms of media, but only as Little Cyan. 

The funeral had been dull. It rained hard, but even it couldn't match the sobs of relatives as the service went on. Gavin was even given a slot to say something, but he'd gotten halfway through his speech before the visions of his father's corpse hanging from the Imposter's tongue became too much and he had to go sit in the hallway with his mother to calm down. 

Gavin was tormented by nightmares, flashbacks, panic attacks and severe paranoia for 12 years. He vowed to take revenge on the monsters who had ripped his life apart. 

And so here he was. No longer 'Little Cyan' the scared little boy with PTSD and no dad, but instead White, an experienced astronaut that could sniff out the Imposters of any crew and send them to their icy demise without a trace of emotion. He was no longer afraid of electrical, or even the Imposters really. Just an empty shell of a ruined childhood, droning on till the day he finally shut down for good. And that was how he liked it, an endless cycle of accusations and deception. 

But maybe something could break that cycle. 

And maybe, just maybe, it could heal his thirst for vengeance on the Imposters.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Gavin starts his mission on the Skeld

White wasn't one to draw attention to himself. Actually, he was the polar opposite of the saying 'any attention is good attention', to him any attention was bad attention. He was the cookie cutter 'quiet kid' and he was quite satisfied with that, it meant the spotlight wouldn't be on him. After the murder of Cyan he'd holed himself up from his friends and classmates, managing to escape every social event imaginable, instead focusing on his studies, preparing to follow in his father's footsteps and become an astronaut.

And follow them he did, enrolling himself into an MIRA training school, instantly becoming a star student. Often he would be told he'd make a great captain one day, to which he'd smile politely back and simply turn the compliment down, expressing his wish to remain as invisible as he could. A few fellow students tried to befriend the frosty teen, but he simply didn't match their enthusiasm and they would loose interest, often leaving a nasty remark or flat out insult that would annoyingly add themselves to his breakdowns in a haze of hate.

In short, Gavin was not a sociable person. And that was perfectly fine with him.

————————————————————————————

"Gavin." White nodded obediently, opting for the small gesture instead of words. He was currently standing in the head of MIRA's office, unsure of whatever words he was to receive. It was always a gamble with her. "You have proven your worth and skill here, and we have decided to send you and a crew of other experienced astronauts past the Graveyard. We are sure there will be at least two Imposters on there as well. It's you and every other human on that ship's objective to weed them out and make sure they go hurling through space, understood?" Gavin merely nodded again. The Graveyard was a path of space where ships simply disappeared or returned with only one or two very traumatized astronauts, usually very new to the job. "I'm going to need verbal confirmation." White sighed.

"Yes, I understand."

"Good. This mission will be more difficult, as we are unsure which one of your crew is an Imposter. They are all very experienced, so don't expect it to be easy to spot the Imposter. I'm counting on you Gavin, don't let us down." And with that he was dismissed, tossed back into the bustling halls of the mixing pot that was Polus. Trainees ran from class to class, substantially shorter than the elder astronauts, who were simply milling about waiting for their next mission. White maneuvered through the crowd, heading for the dormitories to prepare for the trip.

Two days later Gavin was standing in his signature white space suit and red beanie, drifting lazily through the nothingness in a hunk of metal. The crew seemed nice enough, but they'd all clearly been informed of the situation and were extremely wary of each other. Gavin payed them no mind though as he headed directly for navigation, having been assigned as the navigator for this trip. Only one of his crewmates even noticed his departure, and that was Black. Black had had their eyes set on him since he entered the craft, and he was beginning to wonder if there was something wrong with his suit that no one was telling him. Shrugging their gaze off, he walked down the familiar halls of the Skeld, being on this ship far too many times to get his direction wrong. Coincidentally, this was the ship he'd had his first expedition in, and although it had ended quite poorly, it still held some nostalgic feel. He lifted a gloved hand and grazed it against the metallic wall as he walked, remembering all the crews he'd accompanied on here and the blood that had been shed on these very walls. At that thought he recoiled his hand, sighing and pressing onward with a bit more speed.

Gavin made it to navigation rather quickly, getting right to work setting the ship's journey through the cosmos. He wasn't sure how long it was that he spent checking every little dial and panel, adjusting the direction of the ship ever so slightly to get it in the right direction and making sure the path they took would get them to their destination in the fastest time possible. The less time he had to spend around these people the better.

"White." He spun around to face Blue, the captain of this trip. They stepped closer, and Gavin subconsciously backed up. "I couldn't help but notice you ran away from us quite quickly." Their voice was casual, but there was an underlying tone to it that Gavin knew all too well. The tone that just screamed 'why are you like this?', forcing him to push down the whisperings of self hate that began to bubble up in his mind.

"Yes. I prefer not to socialize, we have a mission to do and I'd like to get it done as quickly and efficiently as I can." He quipped back, keeping his voice level and all emotion out of it. An old habit, but a conscious decision none the less.

"You know White, we've been tasked to do this together and I'm sure I don't have to remind you of this, but these Imposters are known to be quite tricky. We have to figure this out together. It'll be no use to split up and keep to ourselves." They sighed, taking off their helmet, and her voice became much more distinguishable. She shook her short golden hair, curls bouncing as she did. "That's better. Now, I wanted to introduce myself to you more formally. I'm Blue, your captain for this trip. I believe we could make this quite enjoyable if you cooperate with us all." She stuck a gloved hand out to him, which he cautiously shook while watching her carefully.

"White. And... I don't see how making friends will make this any easier. It'll just make people more prone to turn a blind eye." He turned back around to the navigation panel, pretending to busy himself with it. She sighed and grabbed his shoulder, forcing him to face her.

"We're not here to make friends but if we know nothing about each other than we will have a much harder time telling if someone is lying. Plus you heard MIRA. We're the top of our class, it'd be beneficial to learn from each other. And holing up in navigation doing the same task over and over isn't going to help our job. You are an easy target for the Imposters, it's best to stay in a small group of at least 3. We can't afford to loose anyone." There was a glistening fire in her eyes, like she was giving a motivational speech to an army heading to war, not a loner astronaut that didn't feel like socializing. No wonder she was the captain of this mission, she definitely had the passion for it.

"As lovely as that sounds, I don't exactly value my life very much. So, if you'll excuse me, I have some asteroids to go shoot." He brushed past her, ignoring the way she seemed to actively deflate from his unenthusiastic response.

"But White-"

"Goodbye Blue, I'll see you around." Gavin didn't even spare her a glance, walking up to the weapons chair, not a single regret in his mind.

He had a job to do. It wasn't about to be compromised because he decided to get attached


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Black and Gavin begin to interact

Gavin sat at the table farthest from the center of the cafeteria. Two days had passed, and everyone seemed to have settled into their groups. Yellow, Orange and Green clumped together at all times, the three chattering away while they did their tasks like a group of birds. It was quite annoying in White's opinion, but then again he sat alone and preferred to do his tasks by himself. Pink and Lime had joined their group sometimes, but often simply huddling together just the pair of them to discuss Imposter theories. Red, Blue and Cyan had made themselves the leaders of the group straight off the bat, advising everyone to stick together in groups to give the Imposters as little of a chance to kill as possible, reminding them all that if they had any questions to come to them. Blue had tried to pull White into the group, but he'd quickly brushed her off and made it very clear he had no intention to be friends with them. 

One person that had remained persistent was Black. The flirty astronaut had stuck to him like glue, insisting that they had to stick together on Blue's orders. Wether that was true or not, the constant company was infuriating, but no matter how much he told Black to fuck off he continued to trail him like a lost puppy.

And here he was, with him in electrical, trying to fix the lights while the monochromatic bastard yapped endlessly in his ear. 

"So anyway White, what's your sexuality?" Black slung an arm around Gavin's shoulder, to which he stiffened and and brushed him off impatiently.

"Why does it matter?" He snapped, flipping the switches back to green. The lights flickered and buzzed back to life, the dull hum of machinery filling his ears once more.

"Because I'm curious! I already asked Blue, she's a fellow homo, Yellow and Orange are straight, Green is pan, Red is aromantic, Lime and Pink hit me in the face, and Cyan scares me so I didn't ask him, but my point is, everyone else has given me an answer! Except you Mr. Inverse Emo!" Black ignored his blatant brush off and once again put an arm around Gavin's neck. 

"Mr. Inverse Emo?" Deciding to avoid the question, Gavin focused instead on the odd nickname he'd been given. Black laughed and made random hand gestures at him.

"Yeah, Mr. Inverse Emo! You're edgy as hell but I'm the one wearing black, you're in all white. So you're an inverse emo!" He seemed very proud of himself for this, despite the death glare Gavin was pointing at him. 

"I'm not emo." Gavin grumbled, to which Black laughed much too loudly. 

"You? Not emo? Oh please, all you do is sulk and glare, liven up a bit!" He nudged White rather hard, and Gavin could practically feel his patience snap.

"Yes, because I don't want to be your friend! What part of 'leave me alone' do you not understand? Are you deaf or just stupid?" Black stumbled back a bit, clearly surprised by his outburst as Gavin seethed with frustration, his fist clenching and unclenching as he tried to steady his breathing. "Now will you kindly fuck off." 

"You're really rude, you know that?" Black shook his head, all bubbly friendliness evaporating in an instant. Gavin opened his mouth to leave a scathing reply, but he was cut off by a blaring noise, the oh so familiar sound of the emergency meeting button. Either someone hadn't done their tasks right and the ship was falling apart, or a body had been found. White and Black exchanged confused glances before rushing to the cafeteria together.

Blue's gaze swept over the tense astronauts with an authoritative look, silencing the muttering in an instant. She sighed heavily and began. 

"Pink found Lime's body in storage." Shocked gasps and distressed chattering filled the space immediately, but Gavin just nodded, having expected one of the two to be picked of first. Red and Cyan quieted everyone down, the remaining nine all listening attentively to Blue. "Where was everyone? Red and Cyan were with me in admin, but the door shut before we could see anyone." The two mentioned nodded, their expressions as stoic and level as Blue's. 

"I was with Orange and Green in reactor. No one passed that we could see." Yellow piped up, fiddling with her helmet while glancing around nervously. Orange and Green were in a similar state, sticking together in their small trio while nodding to try and prove their innocence, as if a simple nod could do that.

"...I was with Black in electrical." White mumbled, catching everyone by surprise. When the confused looks didn't stop, he glared around at them. "What?" He asked, growing defensive again and bristling up.

"Nothing. Black? Can you back this claim up?" Blue waved away the confusion, moving right on to Black, who shot White a smirk before responding.

"Yeah we were there, but we didn't see anyone." He shrugged, his attitude surprisingly lax for the situation they were in. Then again, Gavin knew of many entirely innocent people who acted calm in these debates simply to hide how worried they actually were.

"Shame. Because of the doors shutting, it is my and the crew that I have spoken to," everyone knew she was talking about Red and Cyan, who looked very proud standing next to their captain, "it is our theory that the Imposter, with possible help of their fellow Imposter, shut the door to admin and went by, killing Lime and running off before anyone could catch them. Red, do you mind sharing what you've found?" Blue said everything so clearly and authoritatively that it was almost like a spell, forcing the crewmate's heads to nod in agreement. Gavin felt like she could say Lime's body had been found in the ceiling and everyone would believe her without a second thought, and that scared him. If she made the wrong accusation then the entire crew could be voting off an innocent human, and he had to make sure that human wasn't him.

"In admin there is a panel that shows the amount of people in each room, but doesn't show who it is. I didn't remember it until it was after the event, but I'd just like to warn all of you to be very careful: you can be watched, and you will be, for everyone's safety." He glared around the table, and everyone shifted uncomfortably. Gavin held his gaze for a second, and he internally smirked in satisfaction as Red huffed when he wasn't able to get the desaturated astronaut to recoil under his stare like the others. 

"So there's just a murderer walking around?" Pink had been oddly quiet, and Gavin couldn't help but feel a twinge of excitement as he sensed an outburst coming. They were always fun to pick apart as the screaming crewmate lost any stand in their argument. 

"I'm afraid so. There's not enough evidence to accuse anyone, and to throw someone out blindly would only be helping the Imposters." Blue sighed heavily, trying her best to quiet the storm that was beginning to bubble up in Pink. 

"Lime died, and the best you can give is 'I'm afraid so'?!" She hissed, gripping the table as hard as she could through her glove. No one spoke for a moment, then Blue sighed again, much more irritated this time as she turned to Pink.

"Would you rather we throw you out? You were the last seen with them, and what minimal evidence we have points directly to you." Her gaze was sharp and her words were precise and careful, clearly chosen to have the most effect with the least emotion. Pink stiffened, going pale. 

"No- are you saying I killed Lime? I would never, they were my friend." She tried to retort, but Blue just chuckled and shook her head, seeming to loom over the flustered woman, despite their height being not that different. 

"Funny, I seem to hear that excuse quite a lot. And you know what? 9/10 times they were the Imposter. Got anything to say, Pink?" Pink was floundering in her own argument, making sputtering noises and trying to puff herself up to be more intimidating. Gavin thought she looked like a distressed bird, and it was rather funny to him. 

"I- what are you- you're saying that- I wouldn't kill Lime, a-and you said yourself, it's too early to call it." She finally gave in, admitting what Blue had been saying the entire time to be true, shrinking back into herself once more. Blue smiled wryly at her small victory. 

"Now that that has been settled, does anyone else have any objections?" She turned back to the rest of the group, who promptly shook their heads, watching with bewildered expressions. "Good. Everyone to their quarters, I don't want to see a single member of this crew out of their rooms. Am I clear?" Her eyes flashed, as if daring someone to object. Gavin wanted so badly to raise his hand and start a pointless argument, but he felt that wouldn't be the best decision at the moment. Everyone nodded, and she seemed satisfied with that answer, spinning around walking briskly out of the cafeteria, Red and Cyan trailing her like obedient dogs. A beat of silence passed before anyone moved.

"I don't care if Blue trusts me or not, I will find the Imposter and shove them out into the airlock myself if need be. Goodnight crewmates, and go to hell Imposters." Pink spat, turning on heel and storming out of the room. Gavin was about to leave himself when he was disrupted by none other than Black.

"Goodnight everyone." He waved, grabbing Gavin's arm and pulling him to the crew’s quarters. 

"What the fuck are you doing?!" White pushed him off of him as soon as they were out of the other crewmate's vision. Black shushed him quickly, shoving him against the wall when Gavin kept trying to walk away.

"Pink thinks you did it." Black growled, glancing around to check she wasn't there. Gavin blinked at him, questions swimming in his mind as he tried to find the best retort.

"Pink what?" He scoffed, trying to remain cocky. Black rolled his eyes, clearly tired of him, which was a win in Gavin's opinion.

"Listen, I could see the way she was looking at you, she thinks you killed Lime before I came along." How Black had gotten that much from Pink's glare was beyond Gavin, but he wasn't about to admit it was impressive. 

"Great thanks, what exactly am I supposed to do about that? And you can let go of me now, you look like you're trying to kiss me." He pushed against Black's chest, surprised how much resistance he felt before he was able to push the monochromatic astronaut off of him. 

"I wouldn't mind, but nows not the time for that discussion. You need to stick to someone or she'll find every possible opportunity to blame you." An unspoken question hung in the air, thick and begging to be asked, although they were both too stubborn to ask it. 

"I thought I made it clear, I have no intention of 'buddying up' or whatever you seem to think won't get me killed. Now I'm going to sleep, goodnight Black." He shoved past the fuming man, a pang of sadness wiggling it's way into him when Black didn't try and stop him. But he smothered that fantasy quickly as he shut himself in his room, beginning to strip off his plain space suit, flopping down in his uncomfortable bed. 

He could hear the footsteps of his fellow crewmates and possibly Imposters outside his room as he shuffled around to get comfortable. This 'day' had been quite eventful, but Gavin couldn't find himself regretting a single bit of it as he let his mind wander and eventually dip off into sleep.


	4. Chapter 4

Gavin woke to a knock at his door, the sound pounding and insistent. He groaned and rolled out of bed, pulling his space suit on as quickly as he could. 

"White?" Blue heard him shuffling around and had stopped knocking. 

"I'm coming, one moment." He huffed, zipping it up and grabbing his helmet. Gavin opened the door to see a very impatient Blue. 

"I need to speak with you." She stepped inside his room, shutting the door behind her. Gavin tensed, eyeing her warily, already trying to scan the room for possible escape routes. Her expression softened and she seemed to physically deflate. "I'm not going to harm you, I would just like to have a word with you." Although her tone was gentle, like she was talking to an animal that would flee if she spoke too loudly, it did nothing to make Gavin trust her. If anything, it made his mind spiral into insane theories where she was the Imposter and was only doing this to gain his trust even more.

"You're here now, speak." Gavin fought to keep his voice steady and expression blank, although he was no where near awake enough to make it look convincing. 

"I've decided to employ a buddy system here. No one is to be alone, and since there are nine of us you will be grouped with Pink and Black." Blue explained, her eyebrows quirking up when Gavin's face paled. "Problem?"

"Pink thinks I killed Lime." He explained, feeling breathless, like someone had just knocked the wind out of him. Blue's eyebrows raised further into her bangs, giving him an incredulous look. 

"Did you?" 

"No! Black was with me almost the whole time, I wouldn't have been able to even if I wanted to." He knew this was 'out of character' for him, but he frankly didn't care. If Blue thought he was the Imposter than it'd be all downhill from there, and he couldn't allow that. He didn't know why his will to only die by the Imposter's hand was so iron clad, but any other form of death seemed like almost an insult to him. 

"Well that was a much more straightforward answer than I was expecting. Are you finally taking me up on that offer of working together?" Blue said it teasingly, like she knew the answer would be no and simply wanted to mess with him.

"Absolutely not." He growled, crossing his arms defiantly. 

"Then why-"

"You scare me, Blue." Despite the words not exactly being his regular lingo, his voice had turned to its usual hiss, his eyes flaring up once more. She watched amusedly, as if nothing he did fazed her, and it only angered him more. "You scare me more than anyone on this ship, because everyone will listen to you. If you say I'm the Imposter, then to them, I'm the Imposter, no questions asked. I can't afford to be ejected for something I didn't do." Gavin grew progressively more enraged the more his little tangent went on, his hand movements becoming jerky and sporadic as Blue just watched with a level expression. 

"Do you know the reason invited you to my little group?" Blue finally spoke, seeming to ignore everything Gavin's had just said. He shook his head, and the leader smiled coldly at this. "I want you close to me because I know you know that. You're observant, White. Maybe not in the same way Black is, but you see things the others don't. Everyone else trusts me blindly, even Red and Cyan. And yet you don't, and that makes you dangerous to me. I can't have you accusing me of something I didn't do, I need to maintain that trust with our crewmates, I can't have you jeopardizing it." Her words were almost complimenting him, but were just condescending enough that it put him on edge.

"How do I know I can trust you though? How do I know I shouldn't question you?" Gavin countered, stepping back from her slightly. Blue smiled sadly, sighing.

"You just have to go off of the evidence you've found and your own judgement. And just a reminder, I have no way I know I can trust you. We just have to trust each other so we don't tear this ship apart. Which is partly why I'm here." Gavin raised an eyebrow at her, still wary of the monochromatic captain. "I want to form a truce. Unless there is strong evidence that points to one of us, we don't accuse each other. If I'm the Imposter, sure it could be helping me, but I don't know if you are one, so I could be helping you too. We just have to trust each other." Blue stuck her hand out to him, and he had the strong desire to slap it away.

"Fine." He shook her hand, and he couldn't help but feel like he'd just made a terrible mistake. 

"Good. Then I'll see you around, Black and Pink are waiting for you in the cafeteria." She waved and walked off loftily, leaving Gavin with a hole in his stomach and a storm in his head. He walked mindlessly to the cafeteria, Black and Pink were the only ones left, talking quietly. 

"Oh so the bitch finally decided to show up!" Pink laughed harshly, motioning to the empty astronaut in front of her. "What took you so long, busy hiding a body?" 

"Blue wanted to talk to me." He replied simply, standing awkwardly next to the two. "What's our first task?"

"What'd she want to talk to you about?" Black, ever the gossip, leaned forward, ignoring his question entirely. Pink scoffed, muttering about them under her breath as White gave him a look of 'dude no'. 

"Just about the meeting yesterday. She wanted to know if you were with me the whole time or only a bit of it." He motioned to Black, his words not a complete lie but definitely not the full truth either. He wanted to say it to get Pink to trust him. 

"And? Were you?" Sure enough, Pink's interest had piqued, and now she was focused fully on Gavin. Before White could reply, Black cut in.

"Yeah we were, I was in o2 and he was in navigation so I forced him to walk down with me!" That couldn't have been farther from the truth, but Gavin wasn't about to fight a lie that could be saving his skin. Pink seemed satisfied by this answer and nodded.

"I suppose that makes sense. Well then.... I guess I'm sorry for doubting you." Her apology didn't sound genuine in the slightest, but Gavin hadn't been expecting one at all so it was good enough for him. 

"So! We've got reactor first, we should head there so we don't get yelled at for not doing tasks." Black stood up, the amount of energy he managed to have all the time astounding White once again. 

Gavin wasn't sure just how much time had passed, but the three of them had been fixing up the ship for what had to have been hours. The Imposters were stepping up their game after Lime's death, sabotaging their oxygen four times, making the reactor meltdown three times, and the lights shut off eight times. Pink had given up and was sitting in the cafeteria with Yellow and Orange while everyone else ran around like chickens without their heads, Red and Cyan currently yelling at them to get back to their tasks, leaving Green, Black, White and Blue to fix up the ship. 

"If that reactor melts down one more time I'm going to hurl myself off this ship." Gavin panted, exhaustion clear in his voice. Black chuckled, but seemed to be in a similar state as him, glancing warily back at the reactor, and breathing heavily.

"I think that's what the Imposters want." Black laughed, patting Gavin's shoulder. He jerked his arm away again, but he was a bit preoccupied with the ship falling apart, so he didn't yell at Black for the gesture like he usually would. 

"Yeah no shit-" another loud beeping made them flinch. Oxygen was out again. "ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME!" Gavin threw his hands in the air in exasperation, dashing off to o2 without caring if Black was following him or not.

White restored the oxygen, sighing heavily as his fellow crewmates rushed around to make sure the rest of the ship wasn't falling apart. 

"Good work White!" Red waved at him from the hallway, a very disgruntled Pink with him. Gavin smiled awkwardly and waved back, checking for his other tasks. "Come on Pink, we need to go to electrical!" He grabbed the annoyed crewmate's arm, dragging her to the dark cave of wires that was electrical. 

"Well they're quite the sight." Blue replaced their spot in the hallway, and Gavin felt the urge to shove right past her and run, their previous encounter still fresh in his mind. "How many times do I have to say it, I'm not the Imposter, you have nothing to fear." She chuckled, shaking her head as if his anxiety was laughable. 

"I don't fear you because you may be the Imposter, I fear you because you're talking to me." This only made her laugh harder, and he could feel his hands beginning to shake.

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't be laughing, but you're just so awkward it's laughable." Blue seemed to realize how terrible that sounded, because her eyes widened and she gasped. "Oh no that just sounds worse- I'm sorry White!" He laughed awkwardly along, the feeling of his chest tightening as his anxiety only spiked. 

"I-it's fine, just, uh... do you need anything?" Gavin fidgeted with his gloves, his palms unbelievably sweaty. He just wanted Blue to leave so he could cringe at himself in peace. 

"Nope, uh... good luck?" She gave him an awkward thumbs up and rushed down the hall. Once she was gone Gavin groaned and slammed his head on the trash chute, flushed red with embarrassment. 

"That was- wow- I don't think I've seen a conversation more awkward." Black watched amusedly, his presence surprising White.

"Jesus Christ- hello, since when were you here?" He jumped, stumbling back a bit into the various tubes and chutes. Black just gave him a pitying look and went to help him back up. 

"A while. You never answered my question before by the way, what's your sexuality?" He asked it innocently enough, but that didn't make Gavin trust him any more, and it came so out of the blue that White had the sneaking suspicion he shouldn't trust him.

"I'm pan, why?" He tried to sound casual, but his heart was thumping. This was the first time he'd 'come out' so casually, all the other times he'd either chickened out of or had gone terribly. 

"No reason, just wanted to know." Gavin narrowed his eyes at him skeptically, but brushed it off and continued on with his tasks. 

"Ah yes, because people just randomly ask for each other's sexualities all the time." He scoffed, rolling his eyes at the flirty man.

"I mean yeah. I do it all the time and you were the only one not to answer me, plus it's a good way to know if I can make gay jokes or not." He shrugged, flashing Gavin a smile far too wide to be genuine.

"....fair enough I suppose." White turned back to the trash chute, fiddling around with the extra leaves as he left Black to do whatever he was going to do. 

He didn't see Black hop into the vent, nor did he realize he was gone until the loud glare of an emergency meeting broke him out of his workflow. 

It was time for another death debate.


	5. Chapter 5

https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/783340122254868491/802977227619827753/IMG_0252.jpg

So here’s the picture of Gavin, sorry I wasn’t able to add it in last time I entirely forgot to- here he is, this is my own drawing, and I’m actually quite proud of it! Anyway, hope you enjoy 

Gavin was standing among the others around the cafeteria table, awaiting the beginning of the meeting, watching smugly as they all fidgeted and shifted in discomfort.

"So, Red. Mind telling us why you've called this meeting?" Blue turned to her counterpart, her harsh gaze causing him to recoil a bit before speaking. When he did though, what he said was enough to create a panic not even Blue would be able to silence.

"I've found Cyan's body in med bay." Various sounds of shock filled the cafeteria, but Gavin had seen it coming from a mile away. Of course the Imposters would go for a leader, take out the ones with power and credibility and it'll just be chaos. A smart move that could easily turn into a win for the Imposters if he wasn't careful.

"Did you see anyone nearby?" Blue was less fazed, but her glare had turned sharper, and she looked angrier, which was understandable. Cyan had been not only a crew mate and fellow leader, but a friend to her.

Red took a deep breath and turned his eyes to a certain astronaut. "Pink was the only one I saw around." Chaos ensued, Yellow's shrill screaming at the startled crewmate being the first to perforate Gavin's ears, Orange holding Green back from attacking her the sight in front of him, and Blue and Black were exchanging glances off to his left. It was pure panic. There was no way Red was getting the attention again with this distraction. So Gavin decided to take it upon himself to reign the crewmates back in, no matter how amusing he found the sudden outrage.

"Everybody SHUT UP!" He slammed his fist on the table to punctuate his words, successfully ceasing the growing noise with a single sentence, startling everyone into looking at him. "Thank you. Pink? Do you have anything to retaliate to this claim?" Pink seemed glad to have a chance to state her case, but that didn't mean she was out of the woods yet. It certainly wasn't helping that Orange kept making small comments under her at her or that Green was clenching and unclenching his fist on the table, his glare absolutely venomous. It was clear that everyone had suspected her since the last meeting, but now were able to actually voice these suspicions of the pissy woman.

"I don't get what he's talking about, I was with Red the entire time! White, you two saw me with him, how would I have been able to do this if I was with him?" She was already panicked, clearly noticing how the cards were not stacked in her favor, and she made the terrible choice to try and use Gavin as a ticket out of this. He smiled crudely at her, and he could practically see the last remaining bits of color drain from her face. She knew he wouldn't help her.

"White?" That was all Blue has to say before everyone's heads snapped in his direction, a multitude of expressions staring him down. This was going to be fun.

"I did see Pink and Red. But Pink seemed eager to leave, and I have no doubt that she could have ditched him and ran to kill. I'm not saying she's guilty, I'm just saying I'm not proof she's innocent." Gavin finished calmly, a deadly silence filling the cafeteria. "Your move Pink." He said it so calmly, like he was mentioning a game of chess, not an argument over if she killed someone or not.

"Ok, if I was with Red already, then why wouldn't I have killed him. If we were alone, perfect target then, why wouldn't   
I-" 

"I'm going to stop you right there, it'd be stupid to kill Red since people have seen you with him already. Red turning up dead would immediately put the blame on you, no questions asked." Gavin shut her floundering argument down, easily speaking over her with his calmer demeanor. Pink sputtered pathetically, trying to grasp onto her small bits of truth, but no one was listening. The only one even mildly on her side was Black, and the most he was doing was refusing to look at her instead of glaring at the monochromatic astronaut.

"Well. Has the group come to a consensus?" Blue's voice sounded small but forceful, like she was afraid of throwing anyone out but knew what had to be done. Everyone looked at each other and nodded. 

"I'm sorry Pink, but the evidence stacks against you." Black's words broke the damn, watching complacently as Green surging forward to grab Pink and haul her towards the airlock. She kicked and screamed, begging the others to help her as he pushed her in, Black putting his hands over his ears to block out her cries of terror, Yellow patting his back sympathetically as everyone else just staring stony faced back at their once crew mate.

"I-it's not me! Please, someone's set me up, I'm not the Imposter, you have to believe me! No WAIT!" She was shut up abruptly by Green slamming the door shut, pressing the button to eject her into the vacuum of space. Deadly silence filled the room, and for a moment no one dared move, as if the air was too thick to even breath in. They'd voted the first person out. Sure, they'd done it many times, but it was always still an uncertain roll of the dice, where all they could do was hope and pray she was an Imposter.

"Everyone go back to their tasks. And make sure to stay together. We don't have time to fret over if she really was one or not." Blue said monotonously, walking away from the table, stiff as a board as Red trailed behind her, much closer to her than he usually was.

"Come on." Gavin hadn't realized he'd been staring off into quite literal space until Black was gently tugging on his arm. "We have to go continue tasks." He flinched his arm away from Black, nodding absently and turning to him. 

"What do we have first?" 

=============================

White and Black spent the rest of the day together doing tasks, an uneasy silence over the two. Black kept eyeing Gavin warily, like he was just going to snap and murder him himself, and frankly White was tired of it. Sure, he wasn't entirely stable but he didn't have to look at him like he was some caged animal waiting for a chance to strike out. 

"Last is... electrical, you're good at that right?" Gavin nods impatiently, walking swiftly down the metal halls, no longer caring if Black was with him or not. 

"Hey wait up!" Loud clanging let White know Black was nearly running to catch up, eager to stick to his side despite the looks he'd been giving him, and Gavin was close to just breaking and yelling at him. He sped up to the point he was almost running as well to distance himself from the monochromatic astronaut. "White! Wait, we have to stick together!" He grabbed the back of Gavin's suit, pulling him back roughly. That was the last straw.

"Let me go you fuck." He jerked away from him, trying to get as much space between them as he could. Gavin wasn't sure why he felt the need to get the fuck away from Black, but the deep stirring in his stomach was putting him on edge. He didn't like it, this wasn't a usual feeling on one of these escapades, and he was eager to never have to feel it again. This Imposter was much smarter, and for the first time Gavin was beginning to question if it was Black. If this friendly façade was really, well, a façade, and he was just waiting for everyone's trust before he'd just murder everyone. 

"White!" He tried to call to him, snapping White out of his paranoid spiraling. But Gavin was already in electrical, the sound of wires fizzing and popping drowning out any of Black's cries. But that didn't mean he felt safe. Far from it in fact, being back in the cave of circuits at this time made him feel uneasy, now especially. Someone had just died, and he was questioning everyone in his crew. He felt lost and alone, and memory pricked at the back of his mind. A very suppressed memory, one he'd trained himself to forget as much as he could. Black appeared in the doorway, his footsteps making White whip around so fast he heard his neck crack. He was just standing there, unintentionally intimidating in the doorway, and Gavin felt 13 again. He felt like the scared little boy the other Blue had threatened years ago. He knew it was Black standing by the door, but in the moment his mind wouldn't let him make that connection. He was Little Cyan, and Black- no, Blue, was going to hurt him. Cyan had just died. Cyan was dead. His Cyan was dead. And he was next.

"White?" Black's voice was distorted, like it was coming through a fan or from a crappy radio, only feeding his fear. Everything was too similar. It was too dark, it was too quiet, it was too hard to breath. The smell of blood seemed to still linger in the air, and Gavin's head spun. He knew he was trembling, he knew he looked pathetic, he knew this was dumb to be freaking out over something that happened a decade ago, but he couldn't help it. 

He made a garbled noise, his voice fighting to speak but the words just wouldn't come out of his throat. He backed into the lighting box, the room spinning around him as he grasped pathetically at his helmet, needing it off, or, or- Another pair of hands joined his on the helmet, much calmer and less sporadicly moving, carefully taking it off. Gavin's wild tear filled eyes met the visor of Black's helmet, his mind still screaming at him to run despite his legs feeling like all the blood in them had been replaced with lead. Black took off his own helmet, worry clear in his gaze as Gavin began to relax in the familiarity. The buzzing began to calm in his ears, and with it so did he. A beat of silence passed between the two, and White started fully coming to his senses. Feeling embarrassed, he awkwardly rubbed his tears off, feeling not quite enough in his legs to run away despite how much he desperately wanted to. 

"You ok?" Black put a gentle hand on Gavin's knee, and to both of their surprise he didn't smack it away, an awfully vulnerable feeling replacing the churning in his gut. He didn't like that either. 

"Let go of me." He mumbled, jerking his leg away once he could move them again, deciding that was enough of that feeling. Black nodded and removed his hand, a look of hurt flashing across his face momentarily. 

"If... if you don't mind me asking, what-"

"I do mind you asking." Gavin snapped, trying to cover his sudden vulnerability with hostility. Black gave him a disappointed but understanding look, opening his mouth a couple times to speak but opting instead for silence. 

"Alright, but uh, White?" He stood up, reaching a hand out to help Gavin up. 

"Yes?" He stood up without the hand, ignoring the much more prominent look of hurt on Black's face. 

"I'm... I'm here for you ok?" The words sounded odd on Black's tongue, like he meant them, but he wasn't supposed to. Like he knew something bad was going to happen if he said them, but he said them anyway. White simply nodded, walking swiftly past him to the wiring box, too consumed in his own thoughts to noticed the glare Black shot something in the vents, or the way he stood protectively at his side downloading files, one foot keeping the metal grate down. 

He didn't notice the man watching over him like a hawk would to prey, for Black was trustworthy, right?


	6. Chapter 6

https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/783340122254868491/803279404453199923/IMG_0255.jpg  
God I love torturing my oc's :,)

Gavin paced his room nervously, glancing at the door every now and then. It'd been about three days since Cyan's death, and Blue had given them all a schedule of night watches to take, which summed up to a few hours of silent maintenance to make sure the ship didn't fall apart while they slept. When Gavin had gotten the list, his first instinct was to see if he was paired up with Blue. It wouldn't have been surprising, neither trusted the other and both could handle long tasks and going hours without sleep rather well. But no, instead of seeing his name next to Blue's his was next to Black's. Of all people, of course it would be Black, the one person he was trying to avoid, for reasons he doubt he'd admit for a long time. 

"White?" Gavin hadn't heard the door open in his distressed state, causing him to jump and spin around. "You good?" Black's concerned look infuriated him. He didn't want the man's pity, he didn't want to be reminded he'd accidentally broken down in front of Black, he wanted to be left alone and for Black to forget everything. But alas, he knew there was no way to convince Black to fully drop it. He knew it'd be hung over his head, even subconsciously, until he finally managed to convince him he was fine.

"I'm fine. Let's get going." White brushed past him, refusing to meet his gaze as he prepared to put his helmet back on. 

"You know.... you don't have to put it back on." He smiled awkwardly, clearly thinking of the event a couple days ago when he'd helped Gavin out of his helmet. White didn't respond, just watching Black, trying to gauge how much he should listen to him. "We don't need it, the ship has oxygen in it. The only reason it's used is because of... y'know, Imposters." He said the alien species' name as if it were a curse, something he had to whisper about or they'd hear and come to hurt them. Although in a way, that was entirely possible. 

"I guess." Deciding it was fine, Gavin placed his helmet back on the table in his room, following Black reluctantly. "What's first?" Black smiled sympathetically, and White knew the answer before it came. 

"Er, we have electrical." Gavin's eyes flared at the clear pity in his voice, his fists clenching angrily.

"You don't have to treat me like I'm a porcelain doll that's about to crack you know, I can handle myself." White huffed, glaring at Black as if daring him to make another a comment about it. In all honesty, Gavin couldn't really handle himself. The only reason he'd survived was because the Imposters hadn't decided to kill him just yet. He'd held his own in debates because of human errors, but in truth he couldn't defend himself against Imposters. But neither could Black, right?

"Ah yes, because every stable person breaks down in electrical. You looked about to crack, so excuse me for being concerned for your well being." Black retorted, keeping his voice down to a hiss as they passed the rooms that held their supposedly sleeping crewmates in them. Gavin scoffed, rolling his eyes and walking straight into electrical without a second thought.

"Whatever. I don't need your concern or pity, nor do I want it." And with that he disappeared form Black's sight, walking into the darkness alone. He fumbled with the wires, trying to connect the correct colors in the dimly flickering light, unaware of Black's furious hand gestures behind him.

"White!" Black whisper yelled, catching up to him quickly, grabbing White's arm nervously. "You can't do that, the lights are out! What if there was an Imposter in the vents? They would've been able to easily get you before I'd even know." He scolded, refusing to let go of his arm, no matter how much Gavin tried to shake him off. "This shit is dangerous, ok?" White suppressed a shiver as Black's fingers crept up from his arm to his shoulder, simply nodding to show he understood. "Good boy." Gavin's head snapped up, his face flushed at the comment. What the fuck just happened.

"What did you just-"

"I believe we have to refill the oxygen next, yes?" Black smiled innocently, removing his hands from White and ignoring his question all together, a mischievous glint in his eyes.

"We- Yeah. Yeah we do." His voice sounded strangely breathless, and far too high pitched to be his. But it was his, and it was like this because of some dumb comment Black had made. What was wrong with him, Black was a flirt, of course he'd say that, why was Gavin so hung up on it? Nonetheless he was some random guy. Sure, he'd accepted he was pan, but that didn't mean he was ready to be flirted with. He wasn't used to that shit.

"You're easy to tease." Black laughed, shaking his head and grabbing White's hand, pulling him to the oxygen pumps to fill up the canisters. 

"Will you stop grabbing at me?" Gavin wrenched his arm away, trying to diminish the flush on his face. Black rolled his eyes, but did as he was told and simply began to do the task, filling up the tanks quickly and efficiently. Gavin shook his head and joined him, the two working silently, a strange tension over them. It wasn't an awkward tension, nor was it a particularly bad tension, but it still hung over them ominously nonetheless, and White got the feeling Black knew more than he was letting on. About what, he wasn't sure. On one hand, it was like he'd figured something out about Gavin that he himself hadn't, and on the other hand it felt like Black knew about the rest of the crew mates better than White ever could.

"What's next?" Black straightened up, beaming at Gavin. It was strange. Black was strange. And yet for some odd reason White felt drawn to him, he felt the corners of his lips twitch up into an involuntary smile whenever he smiled, he felt his eyes draw to him whenever he was in the room, and the strangest part was he didn't even know why. He wasn't attracted to Black, never in a million years, and he knew he didn't want to be his friend, he found Black's whole... character quite annoying. So why was he feeling like this? He didn't realize he'd been staring till Black was shaking his shoulder lightly in concern.

"You still with me there White?" He chuckled, his tone light but laced with unspoken worry for him. It was... endearing in a way, but he quickly shook himself, trying to convince himself it was annoying.

"Y-Yeah." He silently cursed himself for stuttering, but the other man didn't seem to care much. He instead continued on to their next task, leaving Gavin to flounder aimlessly before following him reluctantly. Black hummed to himself while doing the tasks, acting far too relaxed for the fact they were the only ones awake on a spaceship with at least one murder alien loose. Then again, there was the possibility that Black was the Imposter... but that was ridiculous, he'd never be it. Right?

"....Do you think Pink was the Imposter?" Black finally spoke after going through two more tasks. His question surprised Gavin, seeing as Black didn't seem like the person to dwell on things much. Although he had been the most subdued during the trial, so it wasn't that odd.

"No. I think if she'd been the Imposter she'd be better at not looking like it. But if I tried to defend her it'd ruin everyone's trust in me." Gavin explained himself as simply as he could, afraid it would come across as he just wanted Pink to die. Why he was afraid of that, he wasn't sure. He'd never cared before, why now? Luckily though, Black seemed to nod and smile at him.

"Yeah... that was kind of my thought too. I think the Imposter did that on purpose to frame her... what are your thoughts on Blue?" Black frowned down at the downloads he was doing, and it felt like the air between them had been pulled taught, despite him asking the question, almost like he was afraid to ask White. He stiffened a bit, trying not to look too suspicious.

"She's.... ok." Gavin decided not to talk about their previous encounter, instead turning to his task. Black made a noise that sounded like he wanted to say something about White's clear hesitance to give information, but he didn't, opting to look down at the floor instead, looking mildly distressed. Something in the back of his mind told him to put his hand on Black's face and make him look at Gavin just for the hell of it. But he quickly quashed that thought, internally scolding himself for even thinking about something as ridiculous as that.

The night went on, the tension between the two becoming more and more palpable as the hours ticked by, and Gavin felt himself close to breaking and asking Black what was wrong. But White was a prideful man, often times too much so, and he would rather sit in uncomfortable tension for hours rather than show possible worry for his coworker. Black, on the other hand, kept shooting Gavin looks of worry when he thought he couldn't see, acting flirty and carefree when he talked to him but rather saddened and worried when he thought White wasn't looking. Something was up, something had made the man go from flirty bastard to skittish idiot, and Gavin had the idea it had something to do with Blue. Then again, everything had to do with Blue, she was the Captain after all. But still, something about his answer has unnerved him, and as much as Gavin wanted to figure it out, he just didn't care enough. Or, at least that's what he tries to keep telling himself. A part of him did want to reach out to the man and try to see what was wrong, but it was a very repressed thought of his.

"We finished our tasks!" Black cheered, switching back to bubbly. Gavin gave him a look of confusion, wondering why he he was acting like this. "What?" He cocked his head to the side like a dog. It was rather- nonono, he wouldn't let himself think of that. No one was cute, that just wasn't how White did.

"You- What- nevermind." He shook his head, chalking it up to Black being tired and finally realizing they were alone with a possible Imposter on the loose. 

"Ok?" Black seemed as confused as he was, but for an entirely different reason. 

"Let's just go back to our rooms." Gavin waved it away, rushing to his room to escape... whatever Black was doing. He heard the astronaut knock on Red's door to tell him it was his turn for watch, the noise muffled by the metal around him. He changed quickly, preparing to go back to sleep. Or at least try to, a certain desaturated, definitely human man was keeping his thoughts running through his head. The power he had over his mind, although unintentional, scared Gavin. He didn't like whatever relationship he was beginning to build, and in a place like this it could only lead to trouble. 

His couldn't afford to lose anyone else, no matter his relationship to them. Gavin had to figure out who the Imposters were and put an end to their slaughter. He had to, or everyone's lives would be at stake. He wouldn't- no, he couldn't allow anyone to be harmed. Especially Black.


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wouldn’t really call this one a ‘filler’ but it kinda is. Just gotta ramp up for the big stuff so it’s as heart wrenching as I can make it-

Gavin was used to the cosmos. Of course he was, it was his job, his passion, his duty. What he wasn't used to however, was just the amount of people still left. This Imposter sure was taking their time, picking off only Lime and Cyan before stopping abruptly. It made him nervous, wondering when the next strike was going to be, the feeling building up in him slowly, almost creeping up on him despite it being his own feelings. Blue wasn't very helpful, her constant reminders of 'be careful' and 'you never know when there could be an Imposter' seemed to have scared the seven into a cooperating, getting them to fix the ship faster than the Imposter -or Imposters, Gavin wasn't really sure- could destroy it. It was calm and serene and that was exactly the problem. Everyone was either too calm or too paranoid, and neither were very helpful. 

Then there was Black. Gavin couldn't figure out what Black was. He was always so cheerful and optimistic, but then when he thought no one was looking he appeared distressed and panicked. He couldn't understand the man nor his feelings for him. Half the time he wanted to punch him in his stupid smiling face, but the other half he wanted to- no, no he didn't want to do that he didn't want that with anyone, that was ridiculous. He certainly didn't want to spend time with him, he didn't want physical contact with him, and he very much didn't want to kiss him. That thought hadn't even crossed his mind, nope, not at all. Black was merely a rather... persistent crew mate. Nothing more.

"White!" Gavin spun around in his chair, in the middle of plotting their course in navigation, nearly jumping at the sudden call of his name. Yellow was bouncing giddily in the doorway, seemingly unnerved by the fact that she just approached a possible killer. Gavin may not have been the Imposter, but she didn't know that. How she did everything so eagerly was beyond him, there was a reason why he never approached anyone.

"What do you want? I'm busy." He motioned to the navigation table behind him, but she simply plopped down in the seat next to him and disregarded his hostility as if it was nothing. He glared harder.

"I've made friends with everyone in this ship you know, everyone except you!" She clapped her hands together, giggling as she swayed back and forth in the seat. He could tell where this was going, and he was sure he didn't like it. She was going to try and be his friend, something he absolutely despised. Especially with someone as over enthusiastic as Yellow.

"......and?" 

"So now I'm going to spend the day with you this time! We've all been on this ship for weeks and I still have no idea who you are other than 'brooding emo son of a bitch', and that can't be all there is to you!" Yellow's face twisted into a pout, her fingers fiddling with the armrest of the seat she was in absentmindedly. Gavin had to resist the urge to slap her hand away as she picked at the leather seam, instead opting to watching her hands with disgust. She was way too friendly and she was destroying the furniture? This woman is a menace. 

"I assure you, that is all there is to me." He deadpanned, turning back to his work impatiently, trying to ignore her. She huffed annoyingly, leaning closer to him. A fleeting image of Black being in her place flashed through his mind, and he felt his anger lessen just a bit. But the thought didn't last, either Yellow's entire presence squashed it or he'd done it subconsciously, either way he was painfully reminded that she was leaning over him, reminding him of a small child.

"Whatcha doin?" She got ever closer, practically on top of him at this point, and he couldn't resist the twitching urge anymore. He swung his fist at her, the blow colliding with her face, sending her sprawling across the floor. She yelped and held a hand to her now bloodied nose. "Ow! Fuck you!" She scrambled to her feet, sending him a sharp glare and running away, her boots clanging on the metal loudly. He sighed and got back to his work, ignoring the guilt that instinctually wrenched in his gut. She deserved it. No one should be that close to him, especially someone he'd barely even talked to. And especially Black. He smashed his head on the panel as his thoughts returned to the man, deciding he would put an end to them once and for all. Gavin would avoid Black. Then he wouldn't have to think about him, and he'd be able to quash these silly little feelings.

As usual, he wasn't quite sure of the passage of time, but he knew it was enough to make the usually peaceful silence become almost unbearably pressuring. The threat of danger was always just hovering in the air, and knowing the presence of it could make it excruciatingly heavy.

"You've made quite the impression on my crew, White." Blue's voice broke the tension, his body instinctually turning to face her instantaneously. When he looked confused, she laughed humorlessly. "Yellow is pissed at you, Orange fears you, Green doesn't like you, Red thinks you're the Imposter, and Black is clearly smitten with you." She ticked off the crew mates on her fingers, watching him closely. He could feel his face color a bit at the last one, but tried to push it down as much as he could.

"And?" He scoffed, trying to come off as his usual annoyingly impatient self.

"And? And? White, I'm saying that you could very easily be voted off when you're not the Imposter! 'And' to Black, who deserves way better than a self riotous asshole but at least wants to be friends with you anyway? You're not exactly favorable here White." Blue glared him down, her arms crossed stiffly and her words becoming sharper with every sentence, acting reminiscent of a mother bear, the rest of the crew being her cubs. And White, White was the hunter, coming to break her family up, a realization that made Gavin feel strangely lonely. He'd done this to himself. He had no one by his side and he had done this to himself.

"If everyone thinks I'm the Imposter than so be it, I'll get my tasks done and do my best to be of use, and when they do decide my skills are no longer useful, I'll welcome being shoved into an airlock." Gavin ignored the part about Black, deciding he still had a lot of thinking to do about that bit, even going as far as to consider scraping the idea of avoiding him entirely. Although if he did like him, then maybe ignoring him would stop Black's feelings as well. He stood his ground against her fiery gaze, even daring to glare at the captain himself.

"And what about Black?" She fired back, her look absolutely venomous.

"You said yourself, he deserves better than me." Gavin didn't expect that sentence to hurt so much, but it felt like a pike had been driven into his chest, piercing his heart and choking him with his own words. He had to put a stop to this.

"The heart wants what it wants. You can't stop him from liking you, even platonically, although the way he talks about you is far from friendly, it matters more what you do with that knowledge." Blue stared blankly back at him, as if seeing past him, and not at him, shrugging as the fire in her eyes died down, like she knew it wasn't worth it arguing with him anymore.

"But..." He paused, unsure of his own words. Blue tilted her head patiently at him.

"But?" She parroted back. He shrugged, allowing the smallest bit of vulnerability into his expression before remembering who she was and covering it up instantly. "White." Her tone switched to pitying, and Gavin visibly winced. 

"What?" He snapped, and she laughed humorlessly, shaking her head.

"Why? Why do you do this to yourself? You're clearly hurt by this, so why do you act so standoffish? Why do you hide yourself away if you show the tiniest bit of emotion? Is it 'weakness' to you?" She waved her hands around, punctuating her points. Gavin looked down at the navigation panel, fighting to keep his persona up. Sure, everything Blue had said was true, but that only made it hurt more. Up until this point it was just him and his thoughts, telling him what was right and wrong, how to act based on his fears, how to maintain his mask. But hearing it from Blue? Hearing that what he was doing was hurting him. Not just others, but he was hurting himself. He was in an endless cycle of self hatred and putting up more walls, blocking himself out from everyone and making the only voice he heard his own. But he couldn't break it. He couldn't afford to, especially not in this mission.

"You couldn't be further from the truth." He retorted, not allowing a millisecond of weakness to pass over his face. She huffed a bit, furrowing her brow like a disappointed mother.

"One day all of this will come crashing down, and when it does I pray you have someone to catch you, because I doubt you could lift yourself up from that on your own." Blue shook her head, beginning to walk out of the room.

"I've done fine handling myself for the past 12 years, I'm sure I can-" before he could finish his sentence, the loud buzzing of the emergency button cut through his words. He shot a look at Blue, who was staring wide eyed back. The previous conversation was quickly shoved to the side, the two nodding to each other before bolting down the hallway off to the cafeteria to engage in another verbal war with their crew.


	8. Chapter 8

The last remaining of them stood around the table, the uncomfortable silence returning for round two. No one dared speak, afraid to point any sort of suspicion onto themselves.

"So. Who called this meeting, and more importantly, why?" Blue was back to her 'take-no-shit' attitude, glaring at each of them as if daring the Imposters to protest her in any way. White stared back, a glazed look in his eyes. Based on Blue's previous statement, he wouldn't be surprised if the blame was placed on him.

"I did. I... I found Yellow's body in security." Black spoke up, looking very shaken, his eyes wide and his voice quivering as he spoke, and Gavin felt himself have to push down the urge to pat his shoulder (Black was a bit taller than him) and tell him it was going to be alright. 

"Did you see anyone around?" Green's voice sounded like it'd been stretched taught and ready to snap, his hand gripping the table harshly, just like in the Lime and Cyan case. 

"No... only Red in med bay, but he was there with me the whole time..." Black mumbled, nodding to Red who confirmed his claim with a small jerk of his head, stress clear on the co-captain's face. Orange's gaze snapped to Gavin, and a feeling of dread began to stir in his gut, fully aware of what she was about to say. He glared back psyching himself up to fight in every way possible to keep himself out of the airlock. 

"White." She said his alias softly, like it was a curse she didn't dare say louder than a whisper. Everyone's attention switched to him, five pairs of eyes boring into his soul making him shuffle a bit in discomfort.

"Yes?" He tried to keep his expression blank and his voice unwavering, but he couldn't deny the adrenaline that was beginning to work its way through him and make his hands jerk and twitch.

"Forgive me for being so blunt, but it is my belief you killed Yellow." Orange spoke calmly and with a factual tone, having a similar effect as Blue on the group, their heads nodding along obediently. Well, all except Black, who simply watched Gavin fearfully, his expression similar to a scared puppy, shuffling a bit closer to Red.

"And what proof do you have to back up this accusation?" He forced his voice to match her serenity, his fingers beginning to tap nervously against the table, just not loud enough to draw attention.

"First off we were all in a group, all except you, giving you ample time to go and kill her." Blue stopped her before she could say her second point with a raise of her hand.

"I can account for him for about an hour before Yellow was found dead. We were together in navigation." She stared Gavin dead in the eyes while stating her claim, giving him a clear look of 'I'm not protecting you, simply stating facts'. He nodded to her as to acknowledge both the non verbal message she'd sent as well as the spoken one, understanding that to get out of this it was up to him and only him.

"If that is correct then he could've murdered her any time before than, although I suppose that can be taken into account. Another thing is your relation to her. Last time I checked, when she tried to speak with you you punched her in the face. So I apologize if it is not you, but that is quite incriminating, don't you think?" Orange's tone was scathing, but her face remained a mask of calm, refusing to break it and outright yell at him, which in Gavin's opinion would've been way easier to deal with. He quickly collected his thoughts, readying his argument before taking a small breath and launching into his rebuttal. 

"Yes, I did punch her. But, first of all you don't know the context of why, and second, if I were already proven to have committed acts of violence against her, why would I put myself in the spot of prime suspect to her murder?" Orange opened her mouth to respond to his rhetorical question, but he cut her off before she could. "If I were to kill someone, and that's a big were might I add, Yellow would have been my last choice, simply because of how stupid it would be. It is my belief, Orange, that someone has set me up. The Imposter knows I would be the first to be blamed for Yellow's murder, so they killed her on purpose, then pointed the finger at me." White smirked at her as her mask began to slip, now a sharp glare pointed his way as he unraveled her argument. He was going to win this argument, wether Orange was the Imposter or not.

"Are you saying... that I killed Yellow?" She hissed, glaring even harder at him. 

"No. I'm not saying that you killed her, I'm just saying someone killed her and set me up as the killer. Although, to quote you yourself, that is quite incriminating, don't you think?" Orange looked about to kill him herself, her fingers digging into the cold metal table they stood around, now glaring around at everyone else.

"Well? What do you lot have to say about this bullshit?" She gestured to Gavin, making satisfaction bubble up in him to see her crack so easily.

"I... think he has a point..." Black was the first to speak up, followed by Red and Blue nodding in agreement.

"Tch. Of course you would." Orange muttered, turning to Green instead. "Do you believe me?"

"I feel that... we should be wary of White. Wether Imposter or not, he isnt a menace and I do not care if you agree with me or not." Green's words made Gavin raise his eyebrows incredulously, nearly laughing at him.

"A menace you say?" His voice was teasing, and Green glared in warning at him, giving him the impression he was poking a hungry lion with a stick and laughing over the lion warning him he was going to eat him. But he didn't care. He was too giddy with adrenaline to care, and this was only more twisted fun for him.

"This is not the discussion we're having right now, this is about Yellow's killer, not personal grudges." Blue stepped in before Green could retort, silencing the two men with a sweeping glare. 

"Does anyone have any concrete evidence they haven't brought to the table yet?" Red added, echoing Blue as usual. When everyone shook their head, he sighed tiredly. "I personally say we... skip this ejection. We don't have enough evidence to actually vote off anyone just yet, but just... be wary." 

"I agree." Black piped up, nodding along to Red's spiel. Blue also nodded, glancing at Orange and Green for their confirmation.

"I still think it's White but I supposed you're right." Green muttered, glaring daggers at Gavin, who simply smiled threateningly back.

"Same from me, although I don't think you're right and I think we should just get this deceitful bastard out of here, Imposter or not, but sure I guess." She scoffed, linking arms with Green and taking him away down one of the halls, whispering among themselves.

"Beware White, you're on thin ice." Blue warned, turning to leave to admin with Red trailing her. Now it was just Black and White remaining, as usual. 

"S0.... you're... not the Imposter, right?" Black fiddled with his gloves nervously, stopping the building tension between them from growing too heavy. 

"Of course not, I just happen to piss people off." Gavin waved off the unintentional accusation easily, watching the tension dissipate from Black's body instantly.

"Ah... good! I didn't want you to be the Imposter." He smiled at Gavin, far too bright and innocent for a place like this. There was something about that man....

"Likewise." The word came out of his mouth before he could even think of what he was saying but he knew it'd cause more of a scene if he tried to take it back now. Black's smile grew, and White couldn't help but wonder how high his cheeks would go before they just melded with his eyes with how brightly he was smiling. 

"See you later White!" He gave a small giggle and began to walk away down the hall to their quarters, leaving Gavin alone once more. Alone meant no one could question him, alone meant no one would give him glares or threaten to shove him into an airlock, so alone was good right? 

Well, not quite. Alone meant his imagination ran wild with every little creak and rustle the ship made, fearing it was an Imposter waiting to strike him. Deciding that for his own sanity he should get out of the wide open space with a vent right in the corner and get some sleep, Gavin began to walk to his quarters, trying his best to ignore the unsettling feelings prodding at him as he shut the door behind him in his room, the one place he actually felt some form of safety. 

White's mind wasn't exactly the friendliest place. Actually, it was quite cruel when he thought about it. Here he was, somewhere around 3 am wondering when he'd finally drift back asleep. Gavin hated being awake at night, there were too many dark corners and his mind was so out of sorts from exhaustion that he could never get back to sleep. It certainly didn't help that he could hear his crewmate's footsteps echoing through the halls. It was Black and Red's turn, if he remembered correctly. The two would be finishing up soon and then maybe Gavin would be able to have a moment of serenity just long enough to fall asleep. Maybe. Hopefully. He could hear their voices from inside his room, just loud enough that they were prominent in his mind but just far enough way he couldn't tell what they were really saying. Just snippets here and there. Deciding he wasn't going to get to sleep normally, Gavin sat up, stepping out of his cot carefully. Making sure not to alert the two that he was there as he sat down by the door, letting his back rest against it, shivering slightly due to the cold metal easily getting through his thin shirt. 

"Come on, only a few more to go." That was definitely Red, talking about what White assumed was their tasks. He couldn't hear them perfectly, but just well enough to hear what they were saying.

"Then we can go, right?" Definitely Black, his usual cheerful demeanor clouded by something much darker than Gavin would expect from him. This... confused White.

"Yes. Then we can go. Then you can stop being distracted by your silly little fantasies." Red's tone was also different. Much more commanding but also with a hint of teasing, like the way an older sibling would teasingly scold their younger sibling. 

"They're not fantasies! Just because you have no interest in anyone doesn't mean I don't." Black responded, sounding quite flustered. Red made a sound that Gavin assumed was a laugh, but it was difficult to tell.

"Sure. Just get the job done, and then say goodbye to your plaything. This is no place for friends." Red said it like he'd told him many times before, like he was tired of saying it. But Gavin had never seen them even interact before, so that didn't make sense. Then again Gavin rarely ever knew what was going on with the crew in the first place, but even then he was sure he would've heard something from Blue if they were truly such good friends.

"You're no fun." Black's voice had a clear pout in it, and Red chuckled slightly.

"Whatever you say. You are my little brother, and thus you are my responsibility." Gavin nearly hit the door, a sound the two would've definitely heard. Since when was that a thing? 

Deciding this was where he drew the line, White scrambled a bit to get up, trying to remain as quiet as he could as he stumbled back into bed, the conversation he'd just eavesdropped on still running through his head. What else did he not know about his crew mates? And how much would he learn before the inevitable happened, where either one of them dies or turns out to be the Imposter and is voted off? 

Finally managing to shut his mind off, Gavin drifted off into sleep, his thoughts filled with Black and various outcomes of this trip through space.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes I know some things are probably misspelled I didn’t feel like editing so I just finished up the chapter and sent it as it was-


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the weird line breaks, archive is being odd and I don’t know how to fix it-

White was thinking, already a dangerous thing. It’d only been a day since the whole Black and Red were siblings revelation, and his mind was still spinning from it. It just didn’t add up- sure, if just about anyone else were siblings it’d make sense to him, but something about the way they were acting was just.... off. He didn’t like it, it was all too real, like this was their true personalities and the way they acted ‘usually’ was just some façade they were putting up. He knew it was rude of him to suddenly act so hostile to Black and Red, but something about the previous night just didn’t feel right. 

“White? You’ve been staring at that sample for three minutes now. It’s done scanning.” Blue snapped him out of his thoughts, causing him to nearly drop the samples he’d been trying to scan.

“Yes I know.” He tried to sound as... sane as he could, but with his staring off into space it was difficult to come across as such. 

“If you’re really that tired I can get Orange or Green to do it with me...” Blue and White were in the night watch, which was a welcomed distraction. 

“No, no it’s fine I’m not tired I’m just.... thinking.” He waved her off, pushing the button and watching as the samples were lowered back into the machine, turning his attention fully to the captain. 

“About what?” She queried, tilting her head to the side. 

“Ever the curious, aren’t you?” He sighed, dancing around the question.

“I’d call it caution, especially out here. Don’t want you plotting the death of one of my crew now do I?” She raised an eyebrow, her words possibly disastrous but her tone playful.

“I don’t know, maybe I am.” He decided to play along, giving her a small smile that caused her face to break out into a wide grin.

“Mm just make sure you don’t get any blood on your suit, then they’d easily tell it was you.” She continued, her words creating a question in his mind.

“Seriously though, how do you think the Imposters don’t get blood on them? Some of these cases have been... gruesome. But I can never find even a drop of blood on anyone.” Blue’s face turned to one of deep thought, clearly pondering his question.

“That’s an interesting point... I haven’t really given that much thought before. Maybe some odd Imposter strategy we’re just too human to understand. Whatever the reason it is odd...” she thought for a second, staring off into space before deciding the question wasn’t worth thinking too hard about it, and simply moving on with her tasks, leaving Gavin alone once more.

White and Blue passed each other frequently, having fallen into the roles of ‘you don’t suspect me I won’t suspect you’, causing them to give little of a shit about what the other was doing as long as they were getting some sort of task done. It was a strange devotion to morbid jokes that got them talking half the time, the other half just them realizing they were only down to six and still had (probably) two Imposters left. 

With that revelation he’d wracked his brain for ever incriminating piece of evidence he could possibly use against someone in a possible fight against an Imposter. His thoughts always landed back to the conversation he’d overheard. Red and Black were different- not only that they acted differently to each other, that was a given, they were brothers, but the way they’d masked these interactions from the others when Black was definitely the type of person to be the obligatory ‘annoying little brother’. It just didn’t add up, until the realization dawned on him. When he’d first thought of it, he had nearly smacked his head on the table, annoyed with himself for not noticing it earlier.

Black and Red were the Imposters. The evidence was so obvious, just staring him in the face, and yet he didn’t want to accept it. Of course they’d hide the fact they were siblings, if one of them were found out to be an Imposter the other would be put under instant scrutiny. He just didn’t want to think that the one person that he’d trusted during all of this was the very thing he was afraid of. But it was just too obvious- too true. It had to be them, there was no doubt in his mind. And yet he was so hesitant- if it were anyone else, anyone other than Black and he’d have called a meeting and slapped the evidence he’d accumulated down, proving them to be their killers and getting them into the airlock before anyone else could die by their hands in an instant. 

But he just. Couldn’t. Do it. He couldn’t bring himself to. Whenever he’d think of it all he could think of was Black’s betrayed face, the realization that he’d lost and that he was going to die. And Gavin couldn’t bring himself to let that face be a reality. No matter how much it tore him up inside, he just couldn’t allow the man- no, the alien, to be sad. If it were only Red, he’d have him gone by now, but White had the feeling Black would go down with him if he were to try and expose only Red. 

So here he was, pacing his room at some ungodly hour, contemplating how he should go about this, a full 3 days after he’d come to his conclusion. He couldn’t go on like this, couldn’t keep going with the knowledge he had and not doing anything about it. He simply couldn’t. 

So he decided to take a walk. Maybe not the best idea for a time when he was sure there were two murderers on the loose and he was alone, but he couldn’t keep pacing his room, he needed to feel like he was doing something. 

Gavin slipped out of his room, careful not to alert the crewmates on duty of his presence. Opting to go to navigation, he crept down the hall, wincing at every little creek he made, afraid they’d heard and would come running. A couple agonizingly long moments later, he flopped into the navigation chair, finally letting out a breath he didn’t know he’d been holding in. Sure, the silence was still pressuring and he could feel guilt clawing at his stomach like an angry cat, but at least he could be doing work rather than pacing around.

“....White?” He spun around, fear pulsing through him. He’d been caught. 

“Hello.” He couldn’t tell what color the person was, but they looked pretty shaken up.

“You did it didn’t you?” Oh. O h. He realized who it was. Orange was the one standing in the doorway. Orange and Green were the ones who’d been on patrol. 

“Did what?” He tried to sound resolute and unbothered by her clear anger, but he had a feeling this wouldn’t end very well.

“I can’t find Green anywhere! And now you’re here when you’re not supposed to! What am I supposed to think, that you’re not the Imposter?” She scoffed, and Gavin felt his heart drop to his stomach. Green was inevitably dead. He had to take action.

“Actually yes. Come on, we need to find him.” His fear was quickly replaced with adrenaline, getting up quickly and walking right past her, intending to find his probably dead crew mate and put and end to the killings.

“What!? That makes no sense, what are you talking about?” She hissed, chasing after him as he sped down the hall to communications, checking the room quickly for any sign of the other astronaut. 

“I know who the Imposters are! We’ve just... we’ve just got to find Green, who I’m sorry, but is probably dead, and end this.” His eyes were alight with a fire even he didn’t know he had. He was so close, so close to saving Blue and Orange. So close to proving his innocence once and for all, shutting down what had to be a notorious Imposter duo to have gotten this far. 

“....alright. I’ll trust you this once, but if you’re wrong...” Orange sighed begrudgingly, clearly seeing his determination and opting to side with him. The two made their way to storage, deciding not to split up and instead go together to check admin. Nothing there, so with one fearful glance exchanged, they delved into electrical.

Sure enough, a puddle of thick, red liquid was at their feet mere steps in the horrid metallic scent of blood choking them out upon entry. Orange let out and audible gasp and White gave a low growl, stepping around the blood to the lights, flicking them on. The shitty fluorescent bulbs buzzed to life, revealing a truly horrific scene.

Green’s body had been split in half, one half of his body draped over one of the boxes, the other half propped up against the wall. Bits of vertebrae was poking out of his upper half, a tiny bit of his hip bone protruding from his lower, a huge bite mark exposing a few of his ribs, his entire suit soaked in red. Blood had been splattered everywhere, the tearing of his body clearly being quite the affair, not just a clean slice, scattering crimson all over the walls and the ceiling. A trail of blood led to the vent, an obvious sign of the Imposter’s escape route. 

White was brought back from this horrid image by Orange turning away from him and vomiting into the corner, the sight of her brutally mutilated boyfriend clearly having a negative impact on her. 

“T-they ate him.... oh my god they ate him...” feeling a bit sympathetic, White pat her on the back, watching as tears welled up in her eyes, unable to draw them away from his corpse. 

“We should call a meeting.” He reminded her, knowing those words probably wouldn’t be helpful at the moment. He wasn’t very good at helping people through these things- or really helping people in general. 

“Y-yeah... yeah you said you knew who was the Imposter, right?” She sniffled, wiping her tears away and drawing her posture back up, glaring at the vent, a look of pure hatred burning in her eyes.

“I do. Do you want to call it or should I?” He nodded curtly, and she pulled out her emergency button.

“I’ll do it. Let’s put an end to these fuckers.”


	10. Chapter 10

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> shits goin down.

"I have.... many questions." Blue shook her head as the final five stood around the table, tensions wrung unbelievably high. White was jittery and eager for the first time anyone had ever seen, Orange looked on the verge of tears and just had a glazed look in her eyes, Blue was very clearly still tired and only half awake, Red had on a mask of mock confusion and worry, and Black had reverted back to his look of fearful innocence. 

"You're not the only one." Red sighed, eyeing each of them with apprehension. Fake apprehension. But White knew it wasn't real. He was the only one who truly knew. Not even Black really knew. Well, he knew, he just didn't know it from the human's perspective.

"Green is dead." White explained bluntly, smiling like a mad man. Orange looked ready to punch him and the other three gave him a strange look.

"Ah." No one was very surprised though.

"And I know who did it. Actually, I know who both the Imposters are." His smile grew as he watched a smidgen of fear flicker through Red's face. Blue blinked a few times, suddenly seaming much more awake. 

"Oh?" Her interest had clearly piqued. 

"Well, spit it out then." It was disgusting how easily Black could lie, and White had to restrain himself from glaring at him. Instead he gave an acidic smile and focused his attention back on the group as a whole.

"Red and Black." He said confidently, watching as Orange and Blue’s heads whipped to the two. Black furrowed his brow in confusion, cocking his head to the side with a look of betrayal that carved into White’s heart far more than he was prepared for it to, his confidence slipping for a moment. 

“And do you have any evidence to back up these claims?” Red growled, narrowing his eyes at Gavin.

“I do in fact.” He smirked proudly. Blue was watching Red intently, a fire of betrayal and anger dancing in her eyes.

“Then tell, because I’d like to hear whatever lies you’re about to spew.” He scoffed, glaring intently. 

“First off, you and Black and are brothers, correct?” White asked, already knowing the answer.

“No.”

“Yes.” Both Black and Red spoke at the same time, looking at each other with wide eyes as they made the mistake. 

“.....yes or no?” Blue tilted her head to the side, narrowing her eyes at them.

“We are.” Black explained, a defeated look in his eyes. But it was... strange. Why was he giving up so easily? 

“Why would you lie?” Orange asked, very confused. Red glared at Black, who returned the glare.

“Because he doesn’t want me to be known as his brother because he’s a BITCH.” Black rolled his eyes, Red making a noise of complaint in return.

“I’m a bitch? Have you seen yourself who’d want to be siblings with you!” He bickered back, glaring down at him.

“Alright shut up you’re brothers we get it.” Blue waved her hand, shutting the two up, seeming very disgruntled by them arguing. “White?”

“Alright. So you’re brothers, but why should we believe it’s because of that? Maybe, sure, but it’d make more sense, in my opinion, to not appear as brothers because if one of you were to be exposed as the Imposter, the other would be immediately placed under scrutiny.” White explained, getting the reaction he expected of confused looks and a very pissed Imposter duo.

“Well that’s not proof, that’s speculation.” Red pointed out and Gavin smirked.

“Oh I know that. That’s not why I said it, I’m just explaining my thought process. Next we go to the first murder, Lime.”

“But I thought Pink was the Imposter.” Orange furrowed her brow, clearly not entirely in the conversation.

“I’d have to disagree. I think it was Black. Why? Because although he was with me, he wasn’t with me for the whole time. And mind you we were in electrical, right around the area Lime was killed. I didn’t notice this at the time because Black made a specific lie to save me. When Pink tried to turn the suspicion to me, he interjected and said that we were together the whole time. At the time he said this, I just thought he was lying because he was trying to defend me, but now I see that it was simply a defense for him. If I were to try and call him out, it’d show that either of us could be the Imposter, and I think everyone would argue that Black is a much more favorable person than me. Thus, I would’ve been thrown out instead of him.” White was shaking now, watching the expressions of Orange and Blue change from skeptical to awed. Black had an even bigger look of betrayal and Red was glaring intently at him.

“Wait so Black lied?” Orange was brought back a bit into the conversation, beginning to make the connection he had.

“Yes. And to think, I actually trusted you.” The tone was mocking, but there was an underlying of hurt in his words that he saw Blue notice, her eyes going wide. Shelving his never properly thought out feelings, he continued on. “Anything to say in your defense?”

“You’re using me literally saving your ass as a way to try and spin me into the Imposter? How fucked up are you?” Black looked on the verge of tears, glaring him down. Gavin ignored the way his heart throbbed at the look he was receiving, trying to convince himself it was all an act in the first place. His hurt turned to anger as that thought settled in his mind. He’d been lied to, his feelings had been toyed with, and now he was going to get revenge for it.

“I’m not going to make this into something about me, or rather us, but that’s rather hypocritical of you.” He smiled acidly at him, fully aware of everyone (even Red) watching them practically tear each other apart with their words. 

“Is there... more evidence?” Orange was clearly trying to make sure this didn’t go on for ages, all while scowling at the two brothers. 

“Oh there is, don’t you worry about it. Next was Cyan. I believe that was Red, again, not Pink. Why? Well, Cyan and Red were around each other quite a bit, making Cyan trust him enough to not be immediately put off by his presence, giving him even more of a chance to kill him. Second, everyone was quick to trust Red when he pinned it on Pink, which was unsurprising. Red was one of Blue’s group, one that was close enough to Cyan to be ‘hurt’ by his death all the while instantly coming off as credible. Pink was already suspicious, and so Red saying something that didn’t match with her would make people suspicious of her, but not Red. And so he killed two birds with one stone, taking out someone who was smart enough to find him out while also having an effective way out, knocking another one out with it.” The four were deathly silent, each glaring at someone else, the tension unbelievably high.

“Well. While I hate to admit to being so blind, this is incredibly damning evidence.” Blue hissed, looking angrier than White had ever seen her.

“I have more. Yellow was obviously a need to get another person out, and she was a clear choice as a desperate attempt to get me out. I think Black did it, simply because of how quiet he was, how quick to question me.” Gavin explained, Orange now absolutely fuming. Red was making obscene hand gestures and Black had his mask of hurt. He really was going to go down with that on, wasn’t he. 

“I think I’ve figured out Greens killing then.” Blue said quietly, and White was mildly relieved that he didn’t have to say anymore. His mind was already spinning and he felt on the verge of tears. 

“Be my guest.” He motioned for her to start speaking.

“So it was Green and Orange’s turn doing patrol tonight, and obviously the two trust each other so there was no reason to do the tasks together. They would be, supposedly, close enough to each other that if one were to be attacked they could yell for help. But that didn’t happen, and when Orange couldn’t find him she panicked and started to walk around, trying to find him. White, who I heard leave his room, ended up somewhere near her path of searching rooms. They met up and when he heard Green was missing, White instantly knew what had happened, and went to find him with her. And find him they did, and White knew exactly who the culprits were, landing us here.” She explained, Orange nodding along. 

“That is correct from my end.” He confirmed, smirking as she made a small ‘whoop!’ noise.

“Well. In the time Orange and Green split up, and in that time I believe both Black and Red went out. I think they were going to try and pin it on White, Orange would be so angry she wouldn’t listen to me and White trying to convince her of his innocence. But I believe Black couldn’t actually kill him. Not because he felt bad for Green himself, but rather knew killing him would seal White’s fate. And as... murderous as he has proven to be, I don’t think he could bring himself to know he was killing White as well.” Blue explained, her words like a punch to the gut. 

“I despise that you’re right.” Red growled, shooting a glare at his brother. 

“So you admit it? You admit that you’re a murderer that has manipulated everyone into believing you far better than any other Imposter?" Orange really was crying at this point, raw hurt and anger so clear in her eyes that even White felt it, despite it not being pointed at him this time. 

"You know what?" Red's voice was close to hysterical by now, a sadistic grin on his face. Black's expression was simply blank, not even fear or hurt anymore. Just blank. "Sure. You've caught us, good for fucking you! You've gotten us, we've been found out, but you know what?" His hands dug into the table, literal claws tearing through the fabric of his gloves and sinking into the metal like warm butter. Orange leapt back, clinging to Blue's arm, trembling with fear. 

"What?" Blue hissed, making the foolish decision of trying to stand up to an Imposter. 

"You've never seen my brother in action." Before White could even question what he meant, Black had launched himself at Orange, grabbing onto her shoulders and pinning her down, his claws sinking into the suit, puncturing it with ease and tearing into the flesh bellow. Tentacles sprouted from his back, grabbing at her limbs and holding her in place, one going over her mouth to muffle her screams of agony. Blue tried to rush over to knock Black off, but Red was quicker, the abdomen of his suit splitting open to reveal a sharp toothed mouth, its lethal tongue shooting out and spearing Blue through the chest, killing her in an instant. White watched in slack jawed awe as the leader that had empowered him when he felt no one could, the leader that had kept the crew together better than any leader he'd seen before, the leader he'd trusted to bring them back home, fall to the ground, dead. He tried to run over to her, but Red pointed his tongue threateningly at him, stopping him in his tracks.

"Stay put, or I'll rip you limb from limb, understand?" White nodded, unsure why he wasn't simply being killed on the spot. Black was still on top of Orange, tearing at her body angrily, an animalistic hatred burning in him. 

"You don't hurt my pet, understand?" He hissed, finally ending her pathetic squirming with a stab through the gut, a disgusting squelch and one final shriek before she fell still, Black finally letting go of her, standing up and looking from the shell-shocked crew mate to his brother, absolutely dripping in blood. 

"Are we done?" Red rolled his eyes, a bored sigh escaping his lips. Black nodded, turning his attention to Gavin, a look of sympathy tracing across his face.

"Oh... oh my dear pet don't cry." White hadn't realized he'd been crying until he was crying harder, stumbling away from both of them. Black walked over to him, wiping his tears away with his blood soaked claws. Gavin sobbed, recoiling and turned away from him, trying to push the Imposter away. "Sh... sh... I'm not going to let anything hurt you, alright?" He wrapped him in his tentacles, clearly trying to be a comforting gesture, but it only made him even more scared. 

"I don't think he appreciates your affection right now." Red sighed at his brother's stupidity, prying him gently from the traumatized human. 

"But..." Black's face fell, looking reminiscent of a sad puppy. 

"Go to your quarters, White. You're lucky to be alive right now." He hissed, grabbing at Black with his own tentacles, holding him in place as Black made grabby hands at Gavin. He nodded, stumbling back a bit before turning and escaping into his room.

Out of every way it could've gone, this had to be the worst outcome White could think of.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> im changing my upload schedule to every other day, every day was starting to get extremely draining and i want these chapters to be actually good. again, sorry for not posting yesterday, but i wanted this to be good. Although sorry for the later update, archive was being very finicky >:(


	11. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I tried to finish this chapter two days ago when it was supposed to be posted but ao3 just decided to say ‘how about no’ and reloaded the page before I could save. So now I’m here doing this 2 days late because I could not get my shit together in time-

Gavin had laid down on his bed to go to sleep over an hour ago. But he just couldn't- he couldn't stop thinking, his mind wouldn't stop showing him the lifeless corpses of his crew mates, the look in Black's eyes when he pounced on Orange, the way his tentacles felt being wrapped around him, squeezing him in a way that was meant to be comforting. He was just laying there, unable to rest as he heard the two Imposters walk around the ship, his mind spinning. He was facing the wall, refusing to possibly see the brothers. He didn’t think he’d ever look at them the same way. 

The door opened with a small click, the sound causing Gavin to tense up, panic coursing through him. The bed dipped slightly, and his anxiety spiked. One of them was sitting on his bed.

“White.” Oh fuck it was Black. He tried to act like he wasn’t awake, but the Imposter was able to tell. “I know you’re not awake.” He sounded so innocent it was disgusting. He shouldn’t be able to sound that... well, that cute really after knowing what he’d done.

“Hm?” He rolled over to face him, panic already evident in his face. Black cocked his head to the side, reaching his hands out to touch White, but the man backed away, true fear now shining through his expression.

“Don’t be afraid my pet, I won’t let anything hurt you.” Black smiled, patting his head. White flinched away, backing up into the wall to try and escape the Imposter.

“I’m not your pet. And stop touching me.” He hissed, swatting his hand away. Black pouted and tried to jump on him again.

“Tesk.” The Imposter froze, his head snapping towards Red, who was now standing in the doorway, glaring Black down.

“Beck.” He mimicked Red’s tone and it clicked in White’s head. Tesk and Beck were their real names. Of course they weren’t just Black and Red, that wouldn’t make sense. 

“We’re almost home, now will you stop harassing your pet.” That bit still confused Gavin. Why was he a pet? And more importantly, what did that mean for him? 

“But-“

“No buts. We don’t want him causing trouble when we get back home, right?” He threatened, saying it like White wasn’t right there listening to them.

“Fine.” Black scowled, shooting Gavin a look he didn’t really understand. Something like... hunger?

“Can I get any explanation of what is happening or are you going to just leave me in confusion?” White raised his hand like he was in class, causing the two Imposters to turn their attention to him. It was rather terrifying initially, knowing that if he said the wrong thing he could be killed in an instant. 

“We’re going home. And Tesk has insisted on you coming with us. Our planet doesn’t exactly... like humans, but it knows people will want to bring your kind in. So when a human is brought they are treated like a dog, thus they are called pets. And Tesk is just strange.” Red explains, clearly being on the side of people thinking humans shouldn’t be allowed on their planet.

“I’m starting to wish you’d just killed me.” Gavin grumbled, and Black’s face fell, making strange whining noise that caused Red to glare at him.

“I’d be happy to, but I have a feeling Tesk would murder me if I did.”

“I would.” Black interjected, looking quite proud at the fact he just said he was going to kill his brother if he hurt his ‘pet’. That word still didn’t sound quite right to Gavin.

“Lovely.” He managed to force the one word out, still completely terrified of what was going on before him. 

“Well I’m going to leave now. Tesk, don’t pounce on him, he barely likes you as much as it is.” Beck pointed at his brother, glaring at him slightly when he pouted at his rule. 

“Fiiiiine.” 

“Good.” And with that Red was gone to go do who knows what, closing the door behind him, effectively trapping White in with Black.

“So White! What’s your name? Mines Tesk, obviously, and Red is Beck. But what’s your name my little pet?” Black clapped his hands together, absolutely beaming at the human. Gavin wouldn’t lie to himself and say that his smile wasn’t nice, it was more the connotations behind everything he was saying that unnerved him. And of course the knowledge that this adorable man was a bloodthirsty murdered.

“Gavin.” He responded, deciding to go with a one word answer to try and say he wasn’t interested in talking with Black. But had that ever stopped him before? Definitely not.

“Oooh pretty name! Do you not like me anymore?” He continued with his question asking, now actively poking at Gavin.

“You killed people I care about.” He said shortly, accidentally revealing that he did actually care about the other crew mates. But that didn’t seem to really be the thing Tesk had focused on.

“...did you not care about me?” He looked like a kicked puppy, an expression Gavin had to remind himself belonged to a killer, not a really adorable part of his crew.

“I... I did.” He tried to be careful with his words, not come across as too insincere, but the words instead came out far too heavy. 

“I’m still the same person you know.” Tesk placed his hands gently over White’s, giving him a chance to move away if he wanted to. His hands twitched a bit, but he didn’t pull them away, so Black took that as a chance to hold his hands, smiling at him slightly. 

“I know, but you... you’re so odd. You switch so fast between emotions too quickly for me to trust you. It just feels like at any second you could snap and kill me. I don’t trust you, and just as I was starting to you literally killed someone right in front of me.” He pulled his hands away from Tesk’s carefully, bringing his knees up to his chest and wrapping his arms around his legs, not looking at the Imposter in front of him. 

“Ah... well, it is my job to be a liar.” He laughed humorlessly, mirroring Gavin’s position. 

“Just... act like whatever you want to be around me. I’ll respect that more than you trying to fit something you think I’ll like.” Black nodded, hiding his face in his knees. 

“But I lie in front of Re- Beck all the time. It’s not easy to just... do what I want all of a sudden.” He mumbled from his position in his knees, all unrealistic cheerfulness gone.

“...well then start now. In this moment, what do you want to do." Gavin sighed, incredibly uncomfortable in this situation. He didn't know what to do, this was entirely out of his comfort zone, what was he supposed to do? 

"I want to hug you. But I know you're not comfortable with that..." He clearly wasn't meaning it to be guilt tripping, but it still made White feel a bit bad for him. Then he reminded himself that the man was an Imposter and he didn't feel as bad. 

"You're right. I'm not, but I'm certainly not going to be if you fucking pounce on my like an overly friendly cat every second." Black nodded, standing up off the bed, patting Gavin's head lightly and smiling at him. He gave a miniscule smile back, a small gesture that that amount of affection was alright. "One more thing." The two men paused for a second, Black waiting for the rest of what he was going to say and White questioning if it was really his 'place' to say this. 

“Yes?" Tesk prompted. 

"Can you stop calling me pet? It sounds like we're dating." He made a face of disgust, missing a moment of hurt that flashed across Black's face. 

"Of course. I don't want to make you uncomfortable." Tesk smiled, waving at him before exiting the room. Gavin sighed, flopping onto his bed, extremely overwhelmed by all of this. A loud bang on his doorframe startled him up. Beck was standing there, a rather peeved expression on his face. 

"Can I help you?" He hissed, trying to remain cocky and annoyed, despite being absolutely terrified of Red. 

"Listen human, I don't care if you think you're being nice to him, you will never be good enough for Tesk. If you hurt him whatsoever, I will end you, doesn't matter if it'll be the end of me as well. You do not hurt my brother." He hissed, his abdominal mouth opening and pointing at him threateningly. 

"I didn't ask for him to want me as a 'pet' or whatever he wants from me." Gavin snapped back, glowering at the Imposter, his usual confidence coming back for a split second. 

“I know. And I don't care. You hurt him and I will end you, understood?" Beck was absolutely livid, clearly not wanting to show this disgust in front of his brother before when he had been talking to both of them at the same time. A beat of extremely charged silence filled the room. 

"Understood." Gavin acknowledged him with a sharp nod, glaring pointedly at him as his tongue slipped back into his mouth and closed, creating the seamless space suit once more. 

"Good. We'll be arriving on our planet shortly, I suggest you go to sleep. You look like shit, although I suppose you always do." And with that final insult, Red slammed the door shut, leaving White alone again, this time truly alone. 

"Why couldn't they have just killed me..."


	12. Chapter 12

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Heya! I’ve been gone for a while, I entirely forgot where this story was going ;-;  
> But I’m back now with absolutely no upload schedule and no idea what I’m doing, so enjoy!

Gavin was sure he was going to die. He was sure this was going to end horribly and ‘horribly’ was probably going to be him being mauled by multiple Imposters. Here he was, sitting in between Tesk and Beck as the ship descended on a rather foggy planet.

“Don’t speak, don’t move out of line, don’t even look at anyone. Understand?” Red had been mumbling threats to him for the past 40 minutes, each time he paused for even a moment he looked up to see Black glaring back at him, clearly trying to make sure White wasn’t too alarmed by his words.

“Calm down Beck, we’ve seen far worse trials.” He bopped his brother on the head lightly, but it only seemed to annoy him even more.

“Do you not understand that in those trials both you and the human will die?” Red snapped, his concern for his brother slipping into his voice. Gavin found it sweet in a way, it reminded him of his own sister. Although he doubted he’d ever see her again now because of this... abduction. 

“As long as Gavin doesn’t cause a scene we should be fine!” Tesk patted his shoulder, an action that White winced a bit at. He wasn’t entirely comfortable with being touched by either of them yet, and it didn’t help that they were talking like he wasn’t even there.

“I won’t.” He assured them, also to show that he was in fact listening to them the entire time. 

“You’d better not.” Beck growled, clearly very uptight. “We’re almost down.” A tense silence fell over the three, all for different reasons, all the same emotion. 

The ship stopped only a couple minutes later, and Gavin was roughly pulled to his feet by Beck. 

“Stay behind me and in front of Tesk. You move out of line once and I’ll tell them to kill you.” He hissed, leading him out of the ship. He flinched a bit at the sudden shift in light, the sunlight turned blueish from the thick fog that seemed to reside over the planet. Imposters had gathered by the entrance of the ship, gasps and whispers sweeping through them when Gavin came into view. Remembering Beck’s words, he looked down, refusing eye contact with them. Red looked straight ahead, his eyes burning with an unreadable fury as Black smiled sheepishly when some Imposters gave them odd looks due to the human they had with them.

Gavin was lead up a flight of stairs into a large marble looking building, more Imposters rushing about around them. It was all surreal, he was surrounded by people that could kill him, people that wouldn’t hesitate to end his life if it weren’t for Tesk. And yet they weren’t animals, they didn’t look like serial killers or terrible people at all. They looked human. Sure some of them seemed to have strange attributes, but they all.... were normal. It didn’t make sense, but Gavin wasn’t given much of a chance to think about it before he was grabbed and pulled into one of the rooms, then shoved in front of a desk.

“Don’t hurt hi-”

“Shut up Tesk.” Gavin looked up to see three Imposters staring unamused back at him.

“What is this?” One of them pointed at him, causing a slight 'tsk' sound to come from White. In danger or not, his pride was too much to give up. Red shot him a tense glare, clearly very annoyed by his behavior. 

"This is Gavin, the human I have decided to take as my pet." Tesk's voice was taught and nervous, clearly worried about the fate of both him and his 'pet'.

“Is he compliant?” One of them asked boredly.

“Er- well-“ Tesk began to stutter, knowing the answer was no but being too afraid to say it. Why, Gavin was unsure, but it made a small sense of pride bubble up in him. 

“No.” Beck spoke up for him, glaring down at White.

“Oh? He will have to be taught then. If you’d like, we could take him for some time, and he’ll be given back fully complaint.” The one speaking broke into a sadistic grin, the others nodding along to what they were saying. Gavin spared a glance at Black to see the Imposter looking worriedly back. Glancing briefly at Red only to be met with a glare, he put his head down again.

“N-no, I’m sure we can teach him ourselves.” Tesk assured them, placing a hand on Gavin’s shoulder. 

“If you insist,” one of them walks over to a door. “Human. Follow me.” White feels Tesk’s grip tighten on his shoulder for a moment before letting go, nudging him slightly to walk towards the Imposter.

Gavin was taken to a separate room, one with what looked like a vat of bubbling ink. Why anyone would need bubbling ink was a mystery to Gavin, but he had a feeling he wasn’t going to like it.

“Take your suit off.” The Imposter ordered, glaring down at him.

“Excuse me?” He sputtered, glaring back. No way was he taking off his only layer of protection.

“Take it off or I’ll put a good sized stab wound right through your pretty little head. Be grateful you’re not dead yet you pathetic creature, because anyone here would not hesitate to take your life.” They threatened, picking up four stamp looking things from a table, attaching them to a long metal fork. 

A beat of tense silence passed over them before Gavin spoke. “Fine.” Begrudgingly, he took off his suit, leaving him in a thin t-shirt and shorts. 

“Good pet. Maybe you’ll learn to listen after all.” The Imposter dipped the stamps into the bubbling ink.

“Unlikely.” He responded, ignoring the way his mind screamed for him to pay attention to whatever tool they were using.

“Do you know what I am about to do, human?” They asked, their patience clearly running thin.

“No.” Yes. He knew exactly what was going to happen. He just didn’t want to accept that it was really going to.

“I’m going to press this stamp to your neck. On this stamp is ink. Now normally the ink would just wash right off, but we don’t want that to happen. Can’t have any humans running away now can we? So we’ve heated it up. Heated it up so much that it’ll be burned into your skin. Permanently.” Refusing to give the Imposter whatever sick pleasure they got from watching this happen, he just stared stonily back, refusing to give a reaction.

“Ok.” The Imposter’s smile fell a bit, and they simply sighed and allowed multiple writhing tentacles out of their more human like form.

“Hold still would you? I’d rather not have to pin you down.” They instructed, and for once Gavin actually listened, nodding his head and staying perfectly still. He could hear the Imposter dip the stamps once more, the original ink having cooled off by now. They shifted closer to him, and he braced himself. The four stamps were pressed to the nape of his neck, the heat taking a second to register in his mind. But when it did, he hadn’t expected it to hurt so much. Absolutely searing pain was being applied to the spot, a shrill scream of agony ripping from his throat as he felt the Imposter press harder on his neck, the acrid smell of burning flesh filling his nose as he was marked. His vision began to go hazy with pain, and he hadn’t realized he’d started to cry until the stamps had been removed from his neck, an unbearable ache of pain still there. He slumped over, panting heavily as he heard the Imposter laugh quietly.

“Oh you thought we were done?” The Imposter’s voice was laced with a sickly sweet tone, their words filled with malice. 

“K-kinda?” He smiled pleadingly at them, watching as they raised an eyebrow at his response. 

“Hm. Humans really should learn there place.” They grabbed him by his hair, keeping him in place as they picked up a large cup filled with what looked like water. Confused, Gavin gave them a look before it was promptly dumped all over the fresh burn. He quickly found out why they were pouring water on him when he felt the temperature. Ice cold water went cascading down his back, sinking into the singed skin and causing a fresh wave of screams to erupt from him. Before he was even able to recover, another splash of water was tossed onto the marks before he was shoved to the floor, the Imposter simply watching him cry there for a moment before walking back to the main room.

“Gavin?” Tesk’s voice made it through his haze of pain. “Gavin!” He sat up, still sniffling slightly as he watched Tesk rush over to him.

“Hey Tesk.” He glared a bit at him, watching as the Imposter frantically checked the mark on his neck. It irked him slightly to know that here Tesk was ‘checking him out’ out of whatever heart he had when this all could’ve been avoided if the Imposter had just ended him when he had the chance. 

“C’mon, let’s go.” He offered a hand to Gavin, the human as usual ignoring it and standing up on his own, giving him an icy look as well. 

“Where are we going now?” He sighed, following Tesk out of the room. 

“Home.” The Imposter smiled at him as he and Beck walked out of the room and back into the hall of aliens. Well, he supposed they were aliens to him, but to them he was the alien. 

They walked through the streets of the town, Gavin noticed that less people were looking at him than he expected. He’d been afraid that he’d be stared at with disgust or confusion, or possibly even fear. But here it seemed no one gave a shit, probably due to the fact many of them looked human. Maybe they assumed he was another Imposter simply posing as a human, or maybe they just didn’t care for humans. Whatever the reason, he was glad for it. Of course there were the few people that gave him looks once they saw the marks on his neck, but he just glared right back. Probably wasn’t the smartest decision, but he was a prideful man. Clearly. 

“We’re here.” Beck mumbled, gesturing to an interesting building. It looked like it had been built in a slightly wider than usual alleyway, so it was a tad bit squished, but overall looked cozy. Lichen clung to the bannister of a small balcony as well as ran through the cracks in the bricks like a river. Clusters of the shingles had fallen off the roof and it looked like if it weren’t being squished it would be falling apart at the seems. It was... serene. Tesk unlocked the door, leading Gavin into a small foyer. The Imposter kicked off his shoes, letting a relaxed smile cross his face as he looked back at Gavin. The human didn’t think he’d seen him so relaxed in... well, ever. It was an interesting expression to see, and Gavin found himself smiling even the tiniest bit back. 

“Move.” Beck growled, shoving Gavin out of the way as he entered the house.

“How about you stop being a dick and just go around us?” Tesk snapped back, speaking before Gavin got a chance to, the action irking him slightly. 

“How about you take your pet somewhere else? Maybe go treat him the way he’s supposed to be treated?” Beck hissed as he began to advance on his brother.

“What? Like with affection because that’s how pets are supposed to be treated?” The younger didn’t back down, standing in front of Gavin in what he could only assume was an act of protection. As if he wanted his protection. 

“Those are for things that actually deserve affection, like dogs and cats. Humans deserve none of our affection, and you know that.” Red glared at White, his gaze sharp and enraged. 

“Not all humans! Not all humans are bad, it’s just.... the bad ones.” Black may be trying to protect Gavin, but he definitely wasn’t very good at making arguments. 

“I can just leave if I’m causing that much of an issue.” He mentioned it nonchalantly, but really Gavin just wanted an excuse not to be here anymore. Hopefully some Imposter would get angry at him and they’d put an end to his suffering.

“No!” Tesk cried, causing the human to shut down all thoughts of escape. Well, maybe not all but certainly many.

“I hate to say it but he’s right. You’re now legally Tesk’s, you get caught without him then it’ll be putting not only you but all three of us in danger. And while I have little care for you, I have quite a lot of it for Tesk.” Beck sighed, deciding to stop the argument there and go up a flight of stairs just off of the foyer. 

“C’mere.” Tesk grabbed his arm and began to lead him up the stairs as well, taking him down a small hall before coming to a door to what Gavin assumed was Tesk’s room. Sure enough, when they went inside it was a small and neat bedroom, but clearly lived in. “We don’t have another bedroom, so you’re going to have to stay with me, ok?” Gavin didn’t really have any other option, so he just nodded his head. “Good, how’s your neck?” 

“In pain.” The searing burn had turned into a steady throb, and if he touched it at all it’d flare painfully. Tesk reached out and ghosted his fingers over the burn, pulling his hand away as he noticed Gavin flinch. “Don’t touch it.” 

“Sorry.” Tesk smiled sheepishly, his eyes never leaving the mark.

“If you were really sorry you would’ve killed me back on the ship.” Gavin rolled his eyes, plopping down on a large beanbag Tesk had in the corner of his room. He didn’t miss the way the Imposter actively drooped at the comment, but at the moment he didn’t really care.

He wanted to go home. His real home, not whatever this place was. This planet would never feel like home to him.


	13. Chapter 13

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tw: mentions of sexual assault

Gavin wasn’t expecting to have to fall asleep on the beanbag chair, but he woke up covered in a fluffy blanket that he could only assume has been put on him by Tesk. He pushed the blanket off, glancing around to find that it was quite dark out, and Tesk was asleep under a pile of blankets on his bed. Assuming it was night time, Gavin stood up, only to be hit by very cold air. He felt it sting the burn on his neck, causing him to give a quiet hiss, the thin t-shirt and shorts he wore doing nothing to keep the bitting cold out. He wrapped himself up in the blanket, opening the door and slipping out of Tesk’s room carefully. Shuffling down the stairs, he didn’t expect to see Beck sitting in an armchair reading a book at whatever hour it was next to a crackling fire. 

“Oh. You’re awake.” He wasn’t as hostile as Gavin was expecting. 

“Yeah.” He didn’t really know what to say. The two stood in uncomfortable silence for a moment before Red sighed and closed the book, standing up. 

“It’s late. You shouldn’t be wandering around, go back to Tesk’s room.” He gave him a warning glare, a clear sign of ‘don’t argue with me’. Sadly, Gavin was never the best at compliance.

“I feel like I deserve to at least know where I am if I’m going to be staying here.” He replied coolly, glaring right back. 

“You really are something, aren’t you? I don’t see why Tesk enjoys being around you, you’re a little brat.” Beck snapped, walking towards him, their minor height difference causing him to be able to puff himself up to tower over the human.

“I could say the same thing about yourself, I wouldn’t be surprised if the only reason he’s still with you is because you’re brothers.” He knew he’d struck a nerve when the Imposter’s eyes sharpened, two pairs of eyes opening on his cheeks, glowering down at him. A tentacle reached out and shoved him into the wall, a loud crunch echoing through the mostly quiet home, the blanket he’d cocooned himself in falling to his feet.

“My brother cares for me more than he ever will about you. You are simply a phase for him, one he will soon outgrow and see just how terrible you really are. And when he does I’ll watch happily as he rips you to shreds.” He hissed, shoving the appendage against his chest threateningly. Gavin opened his mouth to reply, but he was interrupted by an annoyed sounding sigh.

“I leave you both alone for an hour.” Tesk was standing on the stairs, watching them disappointedly.

“He-“

“I really don’t care who started it, you both did it.” He shut him down before he had a chance to say anything, glaring them down threateningly.

“....Sorry Tesk.” Beck mumbled, removing his tentacle from Gavin’s chest, looking at the ground sheepishly.

“Thank you Beck.” He glanced over at White, expecting him to say something. He was met instead with a glare. “Come here, Gavin.” Tesk beckoned him over, the human obliging reluctantly, pushing past Red as he did so. 

“Hey!” The Imposter hissed at him, but the two were shut down with a glare from Tesk. 

“Go back to my room.” He instructed, leaving little room for an argument. Although, if there was any room at all, Gavin would use that.

“Why?” He knew he sounded like an angry teenager, he knew he shouldn’t be trying to spite the one thing keeping him alive here, but he just couldn’t help it. Tesk growled and grabbed him by the back of the neck, earning him a shrill screech of pain from the human.

“Go to my room, Gavin.” This time, White didn’t protest, simply running up the stairs and sitting by the door of Tesk’s room, listening to whatever the two Imposters would be saying.

“You let him off easy.” Beck’s voice was no longer sheepish and passive, but rather quite aggressive.

“You can’t blame him for everything you know.” Tesk sighed, collecting the blanket off of the floor.

“He’s a human, I can blame him for whatever I want.” Red scoffed, rolling his eyes at his brother.

“You both are in the wrong. I swear, you’re so similar and yet so different.” He shook his head, watching Beck disappointedly.

“You’re going to regret bringing him here. He’s going to hurt you, I’m just trying to protect you.” The Imposter’s expression turned soft, clearly worried for his brother.

“As much as I appreciate your concern, I’m an adult, Beck. I don’t need you hovering around me and making decisions for me. And just because you’re worried doesn’t mean you’re justified in your actions, just trust me, ok?” Tesk replied just as softly, all hostility dropping out of his voice. 

“Just... be careful.” Red said, barely above a whisper. 

“I will.” Tesk began to walk up the stairs, causing Gavin to scramble back onto the beanbag and pretend like he was there the whole time. The Imposter walked in through the door, tossing the large blanket at his human, flopping on the bed.

“Why is it so cold on this planet?” Gavin mumbled, wrapping himself in the fluff.

“This entire planet is like a desert. It’s warm in the day and cold at night, plus I’m sure you can manage just fine, you were in space.” Tesk explained, getting in his own bed.

“I hate it here.” Gavin huffed, staring down angrily at his hands.

“I know.” The Imposter sighed, closing his eyes and rubbing them tiredly.

“I want to go home.” 

“I know.” Tesk kept his head in his hands, a defeated sadness clear in him.

“Why am I here then?” The Imposter didn’t respond, just letting the question hang in the air between them.

“.....go back to sleep Gavin.” Tesk laid down, ignoring the sound of protest from the human. Seeing that Black wasn’t going to give a response, Gavin sighed and curled back up on the beanbag, trying to fall asleep again.

He was woken once again by a gentle shake, his eyes opening groggily to look at whoever it was. Tesk was kneeling by the beanbag, giving him a small smile when he saw that he was awake. 

“Go away.” Gavin mumbled, drawing the blanket over his head to block out the hazy sunlight filtering in through the curtains. Tesk giggled a bit and stood up.

“Alright. But you’re missing breakfast.” Gavin shot up, looking up at Tesk with practically sparkle eyes.

“Food thats not absolutely disgusting?” The Imposter smiled fondly at him, shaking his head a bit at his childish response.

“Well theres food for you that you’re going to have to make cuz me and Beck have barely any idea how human food works, but yeah.” He began to lead Gavin down the stairs to a very small kitchen, where Beck was frying some sort of meat on a pan. 

“Good morning Beck.” Tesk greeted his brother, his response being a tired grunt as he plated whatever it was, brushing past the two and walking over to the stairs they’d just came down.

“Is he even awake?” The human asked, glancing from the still on stove to the disgruntled looking Imposter.

“Apparently enough to cook.” Tesk shrugged. “He’s not a morning person.” 

“Well there’s one thing we can agree on.” Gavin scoffed, shivering a bit in his thin clothes.

“Are you cold? I can give you one of my hoodies if you want.” And of course Tesk noticed, his care for the human admirably blind. 

“I’m fine, I just want to know what I’m going to eat.” He snapped, ignoring the way Tesk seemed to wilt at the remark.

“Right. Er, I got... pop tarts? I don’t know what those are, but I remember someone talking about them once.” Tesk tossed him a box of the toaster pastries, watching as Gavin’s eyes lit up at the sight of them.

“I haven’t had these since I was like 14...” he tore the box open eagerly, taking out a pack of them.

“Are they good?” Tesk asked, surprised by the absolute joy these little pieces of pastry gave the human.

“Yeah, here, try it.” He handed him a pop tart, but the Imposter shook his head, handing it back to Gavin. 

“We don’t eat human food, it isn’t very good for us.” Tesk explained as Gavin shoved one of them in his mouth.

“Yeah neither is a shit ton of sugar for humans and yet you don’t see me complaining.” He snorted, chowing down on another.

“You really like those don’t you?” Tesk laughed, hopping up to sit on the counter, having never seen Gavin so excited about anything. “Also it’s not that. We’re primarily carnivores, what our delicacy sort of things aren’t sweets, it’s human. That’s half the reason humans are ever brought here, things like that don’t appeal to me.” The human froze, looking up at Tesk fearfully.

“Are you just doing this to eventually kill me?” Tesk’s smile dropped, and he was about to speak when Beck came trudging into the room.

“He couldn’t kill you if he were payed to. Which he was, and he still couldn’t.” The Imposter dumped his plate in the sink and sulked off, his words causing Tesk’s face to flush red.

“I- he’s- er, right I suppose. I couldn’t kill you even if someone told me to, so you don’t have to worry about that.” He rubbed the back of his neck nervously, his blush not leaving his face.

“Right. Very reassuring.” Gavin rolled his eyes, eating another pop tart. 

“I don’t want you to be afraid of me, Gavin.” Tesk reached out to him, but pulled back when the human glared back.

“Oh you’ve got a long way to go before you get that.” He snorted, hissing at him with a malice.

“Then what can I do to make you trust me? Because I don’t know what to do, everything I seem to do just pisses you off more.” Tesk sighed, watching Gavin worriedly.

“First off, don’t touch me. Second, I’m not your ‘pet’ or whatever. I may be legally, but I will go batshit if you call me that again. Third, fucking explain what’s going on. Because you just spouting nonsense about Imposters makes absolutely no sense to me.” Tesk nodded along to what he said, seeming to actually be paying attention to what he was saying.

“Alright, I can do that... what questions do you have then?” The Imposter asked, clearly trying to be as friendly as he could. Although the efforts came off as more off putting than sincere.

“What do Imposters usually do with humans?” The question was one Tesk had seen coming, and yet didn’t seem to know how to answer.

“We.... well, they, usually keep them as... er, the better word would be slaves.” He fiddled with his sleeve, watching Gavin’s reaction closely.

“Slaves?” His anger had dropped once again, his voice an octave too high, badly masked fear obvious in his voice.

“Yeah. Or, er- sex worker in a way.” Tesk shuffled anxiously, afraid of making Gavin fear him even more.

“In a way? How can that be in a way?” The human retorted, willing to hear Tesk out but as usual, wary of him.

“Uhm- they’d basically... train the humans to preform, er, sexual acts for them and anyone they asked to, either that or just... straight up rape them.” Tesk made a face of disgust, clearly not being happy with what his fellow species was doing to humans.

“But... you wont do that... right?” Gavin asked nervously, shifting from one foot to another.

“Of course not. That’s absolutely disgusting, I’d never touch you without your explicit consent.” He looked aghast by the very question of it.

“You’re sure?” His voice was still laced with distrust, but he was less afraid. He didn’t believe Tesk would really exploit him, but he could never be sure.

“Mhm. I... I really want to be your friend, and I understand you might not want to be, but you’re... er, kinda stuck here. And of course you have a choice, but...”

“I don’t really.” Gavin sighed, stopping Tesk from rambling even more.

“What?”

“I don’t really have a choice. It’s either be nice to you or suffer Beck’s wrath, either try to be submissive or stress you out. Even more than stress you out, possibly put both you and me at risk. You’ve trapped us both in an endless cycle of fear and hurt unless either you get tired of me and decide to just kill me off or I get comfortable with you.” He watched as Tesk’s face fell, the sheer weight of the situation they were in clearly crashing down on him.

“I’m sorry Gavin.” The Imposter brought his knees to his chest, watching his human pityingly.

“You should be. You really should be.” He sighed, his eyes softening slightly at the clearly stressed man in front of him.

“....I really like you.” It was a confession Gavin had seen coming, although the context had startled him. 

“Yeah. I know.” The human watched as the alien looked down, face red and eyes watering. 

“I’m so sorry.” Tesk blinked away his tears, burying his face in his knees.

“I’d say it’s alright but it’s really not. And I’m not going to pretend that I like you because I don’t. Sure, we may be... mildly platonic, but I don’t see us going anywhere. Well, maybe eventually friends seeing as we’re technically bound to each other.” He ghosted his fingers over the burn, a permanent reminder of Tesk. 

“I... I respect your decisions and opinions, as much as they may... be painful.” As much as Gavin wanted to resent the Imposter for all he’d done, it was practically impossible. He was just too nice, truly undeserving of the human’s unrequited feelings. Maybe in his seemingly permanent stay with Tesk he could help him move on and find someone better.

“I don’t hate you, Tesk. You’re a good person, I just... can’t with anyone right now.” He didn’t mean it to sound so much like he was giving the poor man false hope, but his wording couldn’t have been worse. Although if it gave Tesk that hope he didn’t let it show, for he just nodded numbly. 

“I’ll- I’ll try not to... make you uncomfortable, although if you cannot tell I’m... quite affectionate.” He laughed hollowly, rocking himself a bit.

“I’ve noticed.” Deciding that was too scathing of a reply, he was quick to add more. “But you’re trying. And trying is good.” 

“Is there... anything else I can do to make you more comfortable here?” Tesk was trying. He really was, and it was obvious he himself was uncomfortable, having been on the verge of tears for half the conversation. Gavin decided to take pity on him and stop the spiraling encounter before it got too out of hand.

“If we could continue this later, I think both of us need to... think for a bit.” Tesk nodded, closing his eyes for a moment.

“I suggest you go to my room then, Beck might still be angry... oh god we just had this discussion in the fucking kitchen.” Tesk hopped down from the countertop he’d been sitting on, stress evident on his face. 

“Alright.” He was never the best with words to begin with, but he truly had no idea what to say in this situation. He walked up the stairs to Tesk’s room, passing by Beck in his own room, the Imposter glancing up at him and giving an unreadable look. He walked right past into the room next to it, flopping down on the beanbag. 

Boy he had so much shit to think through.


End file.
